


If I Had a World of My Own

by Diaryofanarcissisticgayman



Series: Through the Looking Glass (I See You Staring Back at Me) [2]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Cheshire Cat! Harry, Dom/sub Undertones, Fireman! Liam, Fluff and Smut, I've never been to Rio, It's not onscreen though, Light Bondage, M/M, Med Students! Niall and Zayn, Perfect! Luke, Recreational Drug Use, Rich Fuckboy! Louis, Shibari actually, That's really all there is to this story, Versatile Harry, Versatile Niall, sequel to Down the Rabbit Hole, that should be noted ahead of time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-06
Updated: 2015-06-06
Packaged: 2018-04-03 03:40:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 29,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4085305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Diaryofanarcissisticgayman/pseuds/Diaryofanarcissisticgayman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Jesus, it’s so gorgeous.” Niall gasps in awe, taking in the view from the enormous villa that Harry rented out for the week. The Elevado das Bandeiras is just below the main deck, about twenty meters down, which then drops off to the open ocean. There’s no beach right there, just some rocks that disappear into the south Atlantic, which stretches as far as the eyes can see. It feels isolated, and yet like the entire world is just there at Niall’s fingertips, waiting to be taken. “Haz, this place is amazing.”</p><p>“I know. The view is almost as beautiful as you are.” Harry chuckles, wrapping his arms around Niall’s waist from behind. “You should see the view from our bedroom. It’s even higher up. Gives you a better look at the city proper, and it feels like you can touch the sky.”</p><p>“I’m officially never going back to London. Let’s just stay here.” Niall beams. “We’ll shag and swim and tan for the rest of our lives.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	If I Had a World of My Own

**Author's Note:**

> Aright, here's the second part in this series. For anyone who doesn't follow me on tumblr, I've decided what to do with this series. This is the first of three sequels, set directly after Down the Rabbit Hole. The next part will be set two years from this, and will be about Harry's final days in the club, the end of Niall and Zayn's schooling, and of course, the wedding. After that will be what was originally going to be the epilogue, and it's set seven years from this story. After that I'll write the prequel that details Harry, Niall, an Zayn's journeys from the time they entered London to when Harry and Niall met that fateful night.
> 
> I really hope you all like this story. I've worked so hard on continuing this AU because I love the characters so much, and a lot of other people seemed to as well. If there's anything specific you'd like to see in the other three installments, let me know. I have them planned for the most part, but I can always take suggestions. The title (as all of the titles in this series will be) is part of a quote from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Also, I shouldn't have to say this, but you really need to read the first part before you read this one if you haven't. It won't make sense in a lot of places if you don't.

“Will you shut it?” Niall hisses, slapping a hand over Harry’s obnoxiously loud mouth. He’s moaning, and panting, and whimpering like a bitch in heat, and that would be so incredibly hot if they weren’t shoved inside a tiny airplane loo, miles over the Atlantic ocean, with three hundred other people sleeping right beyond the doors. “Do I have to fucking gag you or something?”

“Wha- What did- What did you expect?” Harry groans, rutting desperately against Niall’s hip, pushing Niall’s hand away to pull him into a desperate snog. “You’re the one who’s had this going for eight minutes straight.”

“The fucking controller is broken.” Niall sighs. “We came in here to take it out, not to fool around.”

“Don’t see why we can’t do both.” Harry hums, slipping a hand under Niall’s joggers. “C’mon Ni. Just fuck me already. We both know that’s where this is going to end up.”

“I don’t have a-” Niall starts. 

“Don’t need one, remember?” Harry grins. “That’s why we did the test.”

“Oh, yeah.” Niall breathes out.

“And I have lube for this little injustice.” Harry whimpers, referring to the plug buzzing away inside of him, which Niall can no longer switch off. “Just- Just please Ni. I need it so bad.”

“Fine, but you keep quiet.” Niall smirks, pivoting Harry around and pulling down his obnoxiously tight jeans once Harry undoes the button. Who even wears skinny jeans on a nearly twelve hour flight? He’s not even the Cheshire Cat right now. They have one week, blessedly free from any schoolwork or crime. It’s lovely. “Can’t do the same thing we did in the kitchen. We’re engaged now. We have to be classier than that.”

“Because this is totally fu-ucking hell!” Harry groans when Niall starts making small circles inside of him with the plug.

“Shut it Haz, or else I’ll have to gag you with that stupid fucking scarf of yours.” Niall says with a low growl.

“It’s not stupid.” Harry pouts.

“Yes, it is.” Niall chuckles. “It’s summer in Rio. It’s going to be hot as hell, but you’re dressed like a sexy grim reaper.”

“Can we come back to this conversation after you fuck me?” Harry hisses.

“Whatever you say.” Niall hums, taking a grip on the plug and pulling back on it slowly. In the mirror he can see Harry biting down on his lip, pleasure and discomfort mixed into one expression. The bet was stupid. They never should have left this thing in for so long. “Shit, give me the lube.”

“Finally you get eager.” Harry smiles, passing back a small tube of lubricant.

“I’m not eager you knob.” Niall scoffs. “The lube has dried. I need to put a bunch of it on the base and push the plug back in to help your sphincter cope with the larger part coming back out. Otherwise you’re risking an anal fissure.”

“Any and all sexual desire I had just disappeared.” Harry sighs.

“Sorry.” Niall shrugs, putting so much lube on the skinnier bottom part of the plug just past the base that it’s practically dripping onto the floor. “But if you want to be fucked at all any time soon, or even have a bowel movement without crying, then you’ll get over it.”

“Whatever.” Harry huffs. “Just do whatever you have to do to keep me from bleeding in my arse.”

“This might feel a bit weird.” Niall muses, pushing the plug back in and rotating it slowly to help spread the lube more evenly. “Let me know when it feels like you’re all slicked up.”

“This is so not how I saw this going.” Harry mumbles.

“I know Love.” Niall says with a soft kiss to the back of Harry’s neck. “I’m sorry. The medical part of my brain was shut down by the competitive part. I should have known better than to do this.”

“Well it was a fun idea. In practice it’s not so great.” Harry laughs. “It should be fine to take it out now.”

“Alright.” Niall nods, gripping the plug again and pulling slowly. Harry doesn’t wince as much this time, and Niall takes it as a good thing. Once he manages to work the plug all the way out, he tears out the cord and it finally stops vibrating. Stupid, cheap piece of crap. He wraps it in paper towels and shoves it in the bin. “Now I need to check to make sure you don’t have a fissure, okay?”

“Seriously?” Harry whines.

“If you’d rather, you can wait until we land and see a doctor in Rio.” Niall offers.

“No, if anyone is going to have their fingers in my arse, I’d rather it be you.” Harry sighs. “It just feels a bit weird. So clinical.”

“Well I’ve listed the only two options I can think of Haz.” Niall tells him. “We could wait until you have to go I suppose. Anal fissures don’t really have any complications that can arise. Just pain.”

“Just get it over with.” Harry chuckles. “I’d rather know ahead of time if I can wake you up by riding your cock.”

“You’re not going to let this keep you down for long, are you?” Niall asks, lubing up his finger.

“I rarely do.” Harry hums.

“Let me know if any of this hurts, alright.” Niall says quietly, pressing his finger to Harry’s rim. Harry doesn’t say anything, so Niall pushes in, moving his finger slowly to search for any tear in the lining. It really does feel clinical the longer it goes on, but Harry never mentions being in pain, so Niall decides to have some fun with it. He presses the pad of his fingers to Harry’s prostate, pulling a gasp out of his lips.

“That- That really doesn’t hurt.” Harry moans.

“Gotta check thoroughly, don’t I?” Niall smirks, moving his finger in slow circles over the sensitive bundle of nerves. “Anything feel unpleasant?”

“No.” Harry gasps, his head dropping forwards and his breath coming in ragged pants.

“How about clinical?” Niall asks.

“No.” Harry repeats, rocking his hips back in time with Niall’s ministrations. “You should add another. Two is better than one for searching, yeah?”

“You make an excellent point.” Niall hums, slipping a second finger in with the first on an out-thrust.

“God yes.” Harry moans quietly. “You have the best fucking fingers Love.”

“Then be quiet before we get caught, yeah?” Niall mutters. “I’d rather not have to be sent back to London in handcuffs. And you really can’t afford to be arrested.”

“Then just fuck me already.” Harry whimpers.

“Not yet Love.” Niall grins.

“We don’t really have time for this to keep going indefinitely.” Harry points out.

“I just want to make sure you’re ready.” Niall giggles.

“I’ve been stretched open for the last eleven hours. I think I’m ready.” Harry huffs.

“If you insist then.” Niall laughs, shimmying his joggers down his hips until his cock springs free. He pulls his fingers out of Harry early, because he doesn’t want both hands to be sticky with lube. Harry whines a little, but that turns to a moan when Niall presses the tip of his lubed up cock to Harry’s entrance. “Now be quiet. Got it?”

Harry nods, pressing his lips into a thin line, and pushes back once Niall is partially inside of him. “God- Fuck that feels so much fucking better without a condom.” Niall groans. “You feel so fucking good Love.”

“No talking. Only fucking.” Harry mutters, rolling his hips as a sign he’s ready. “We can talk later. Got another hour left on this damn plane.”

Niall nods in confirmation, pulling his hips out and snapping them back up into Harry. He sets a quick pace, remembering that they’ve both been in here a while now and a stewardess might come looking for them soon. He can tell Harry has had the same thought by the way his arm is moving, and he curses the small lavatory for not giving him a better view of his gorgeous fiancé wanking as he fucks him. Very poor planning on the airline’s part really.

Harry cums with a strangled moan, biting his lip hard as he slurs out Niall’s name. He clenches around Niall, so tight and hot that it pulls Niall’s orgasm out after only a few more thrusts. He buries himself inside Harry, gripping tight on his hips to hold him close as they both come down.

“Alright, you’ve had your fun. Please get back to your seats.” comes a frustrated voice from outside the door. “We’ll be waking up the other passengers soon for breakfast.”

“Just a second.” Harry chirps, giggling when the sound of footsteps fades away. “Don’t worry Ni. I paid off the flight attendants because I’m not an idiot. We’re fine. Probably don’t want to push our luck though.”

“Probably not.” Niall chuckles. He pulls out of Harry and groans. “Switch me? I’d rather not sit around like this until we get to the villa.”

“Sure thing Love.” Harry hums, turning around to face Niall. “After a kiss.”

Niall pecks him on the lips, giggling when Harry tries for more. “Haz, I’ve got my cock out in an airplane lavatory, covered in several things. I’m not going to have a full on snog session with you.”

“Fine.” Harry huffs. “See you back in our seats.”

“Be there in a mo.” Niall smiles. Harry starts to move towards the door, but Niall catches him by the jaw and pulls him back down for one more kiss. “Love you.”

“Love you too.” Harry grins, stealing another kiss before he disappears out the door. Niall cleans himself off in the pathetic excuse for a sink that they have in the little cubicle, all the while staring at the little gold ring on his left hand and wondering how he was ever lucky enough to fall into this life.

 

“Jesus, it’s so gorgeous.” Niall gasps in awe, taking in the view from the enormous villa that Harry rented out for the week. The Elevado das Bandeiras is just below the main deck, about twenty meters down, which then drops off to the open ocean. There’s no beach right there, just some rocks that disappear into the south Atlantic, which stretches as far as the eyes can see. It feels isolated, and yet like the entire world is just there at Niall’s fingertips, waiting to be taken. “Haz, this place is amazing.”

“I know. The view is almost as beautiful as you are.” Harry chuckles, wrapping his arms around Niall’s waist from behind. “You should see the view from our bedroom. It’s even higher up. Gives you a better look at the city proper, and it feels like you can touch the sky.”

“I’m officially never going back to London. Let’s just stay here.” Niall beams. “We’ll shag and swim and tan for the rest of our lives.”

“As lovely as that sounds, I don’t fancy learning Portuguese just to get by.” Harry laughs. “It does sound tempting though. I’d love to see you all tanned and shirtless and drinking caipirinhas all day, every day.”

“Mm, wouldn’t you just.” Niall giggles.

“Planning on coming to see the rest of the place, or are you just going to camp out on the balcony?” Harry asks.

“That is a distinct possibility.” Niall hums, drinking in the view of the ocean. “I feel like I’m on top of the world.”

“Oh, so close.” Harry laughs. “We could have reenacted a scene from Titanic if you’d just said that a little differently.”

“You’re such a knob.” Niall snorts.

“Don’t be mean to me.” Harry pouts, jutting his bottom lip out against Niall’s neck. “We’re engaged. You’re not allowed to be mean to me when we’re engaged.”

“Then I guess I’m going to have to get un-engaged to you.” Niall grins. “I can’t possibly stop myself from calling you a knob, or a twat, or a cun-”

“I get your point.” Harry huffs. “I was just hoping that impending marriage would make you less of a grumpy little shit.”

“Not a chance.” Niall cackles. “You knew what you were getting into when you put this ring on my finger, and that’s what you’re signing up for.”

“Good thing that I’m incredibly resilient then.” Harry sighs. “And that I’m impossibly in love with you.”

“Love you too Haz.” Niall says, settling back against Harry’s chest and lacing his fingers through the ones splayed over his abdomen, relishing the clink of gold against silver on their left hands.

 

“How much?” Niall growls, his eyes practically bulging out of his head. He feels like he’s having a stroke with the way his blood is pounding in his head.

“About thirty thousand.” Harry squeaks out, looking for the closest cover he can find. “Actually, it’s closer to fifty for everything in total.”

“What the fuck were you thinking?” Niall yells. “Harry Edward Styles, you’ve lost your fucking mind!”

“I wanted it to be a good trip?” Harry offers, sounding more questioning than it’s probably supposed to.

“Why would we need a seven bedroom villa?” Niall groans. “This place sleeps twelve! There are two of us! We don’t need to spend fifty-thousand pounds on a seven-hundred square meter villa for it to be a good trip! Especially when we’re alone!”

“About that-” Harry starts. “There’s kind of a surprise.”

“What?” Niall asks harshly. 

“The boys are coming out tomorrow.” Harry sighs. “I wanted it to be a surprise for you, but I’d rather tell you now and stop your eyes from popping out of their sockets.”

“The- The boys?” Niall questions.

“Zayn, Liam, Louis, and Luke will be flying in tomorrow, and staying with us for the rest of the trip.” Harry explains. “I thought you’d be happy.”

“Haz, that’s so sweet, but why didn’t you tell me?” Niall asks, deflating and dropping down on the edge of the bed.

“You’re a literal genius. Do I have to explain the meaning of the word surprise to you?” Harry scoffs.

“Don’t get cheeky with me, or you’ll spend the night in one of the six other bedrooms in this place.” Niall says with a glare. “I thought this trip was going to be just us. I only packed two outfits because I planned on spending the majority of the time naked. I can’t do that if there are four other people here.”

“I don’t see why not. I plan on doing it.” Harry shrugs.

“Unfortunately, Louis will probably take that as permission to follow suit, and Zayn and I will probably join you two after we’ve had enough to drink. Liam and Luke are going to have a strop.” Niall groans.

“Then let them have a strop. I invited them on the understanding that we’re still going to do whatever we want. The all-expenses-paid trip to Brazil won them over though.” Harry smirks. “I doubt we’ll have much to worry about.”

“That’s because you’ve only spent a few hours around Louis at a time.” Niall mutters. “He’s going to be a menace. A drunk, horny, skinny-dipping menace.”

“I’d rather not focus on Louis and his shenanigans right now.” Harry hums, scooting towards Niall on the bed. “We’ve got until tomorrow around noon to have sex in every bed here so that we can tell them we did it in all of them except for one, and watch them try to figure out which and fight over it.”

“I like your devious mind.” Niall grins, falling back on the bed when Harry straddles over his hips.

 

“Mercy.” Niall gasps out. “I- I can’t- go again- until we- have some- food.”

“Already?” Harry giggles, draping a fresh towel over Niall’s stomach for him to clean up with. “I’m disappointed Ni.”

“I’m the one who’s been doing the majority of the work, and I have a bum knee. You can shove it up your arse.” Niall grumbles, wiping up the sticky mess from his stomach.

“That’s what I was planning on doing, but apparently you need to eat first.” Harry smirks.

“Why are you so insatiable?” Niall groans.

“The ring has unleashed a flood of hormones.” Harry chuckles. “Also, fucking you bare feels really fucking good.”

“Believe me, I know.” Niall laughs. “Feels better on both ends.”

“We should probably shower if we’re going to go out and get some food.” Harry hums. “We look proper wrecked.”

“It’s a good look on you.” Niall grins.

“The sentiment is returned, but I don’t know how the locals would think of us if we went out like this.” Harry smiles. “Besides, I like having you all naked and wet in my arms.”

“Insatiable.” Niall repeats, tossing the rag at Harry before climbing off the bed. “I’m serious about not shagging again until we eat Haz.”

“I figured as much.” Harry muses, following behind as Niall makes his way towards the closest bedroom with an en-suite. Only four of the seven bedrooms have showers in their bathrooms. That doesn’t really matter though, since three couples still leaves a spare shower left over. “Your shoulders are a bit sunburned. Maybe we should close the shades if you’re going to have me fuck you right up against the window again.”

“Or, we could just put on sunscreen.” Niall laughs. “I like having the window open, and knowing that nobody can see us. It makes it feel even more like we’re in our own little world.”

“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense.” Harry says quietly.

“Are you still going to be obsessed with the quotes when you’re no longer the Cheshire Cat?” Niall asks curiously, turning on the tap for the hot water. It may be twenty-seven degrees Celsius outside, but inside they have air conditioning and they both hate cold showers.

“Probably.” Harry shrugs. “I told you that I loved the books as a child. That’s not going away. If I can help it, our child’s first full sentence will be ‘Every adventure requires a first step.’”

“I’m pretty sure it’ll be ‘Daddy is a twat.’” Niall chuckles.

“Thank god you’ll be at work and I’ll be the one taking care of them.” Harry huffs, planting a firm smack on Niall’s arse, sending him jumping into the shower with a yelp.

“Dick!” Niall hisses, sputtering under the spray that douses him. Harry just smirks and steps in after him, shutting the glass door behind him. “Ugh, why did I ever fall in love with you?”

“Because it was fate.” Harry hums. “Because from the second I saw you, I knew we were meant to be together, and so did you.”

“Pretty sure it wasn’t the second I saw you.” Niall grumbles, tilting his head back under the stream and running his hands through his hair to get it out of his eyes. “It was quite a bit later than that really.”

“Well you aren’t very perceptive to be fair.” Harry laughs. “You’re very closed off from the universe. You need someone who isn’t. Someone who can open your eyes to the beauty of the things you never thought to see.”

“Alright Guru Styles, go take your spirituality lecture somewhere else.” Niall chuckles. “I’m plenty fine the way I am.”

“But who you are now isn’t the same as when we met, is it?” Harry asks with an amused lilt to his voice.

“I know who I was when I woke up this morning, but I must have changed a few times since then.” Niall rattles off, taking quite a bit of pride in the blinding grin that splits Harry’s face.

“God I love you.” Harry giggles, pulling Niall in for a kiss. They never end up going out, but there is a box of stale crackers in the cupboard that suffices for the night.

 

“The boys will be here in a few minutes. Anything you want to do while we’re still alone?” Harry asks, mumbling the words into Niall’s neck.

“Not really.” Niall says with a one armed shrug, not wanting to dislodge Harry from his other one. “Too tired to shag, and our evil plan will work better if you’re not wet from the pool.”

“I don’t see why you’re punishing them like this.” Harry chuckles.

“Because none of them told me they were coming, and they should know better.” Niall hums. “And because it’ll be funny as hell.

“You’re not the victim in this scenario. I am. I don’t think it’ll be so funny.” Harry huffs, the warm air tickling over Niall’s neck and making him squirm.

“I’m not actually going to hurt you. I just want to see them freak out.” Niall giggles, sitting up with a great deal of effort. Harry doesn’t want to let go apparently, and keeps himself glued to Niall’s smaller frame. “Now, do you think you can stay quiet and still for long enough to pull this off?”

“If it only lasts a minute or two, yeah.” Harry nods. “Hopefully they’ll be too panicked to notice if I breathe really shallowly.”

“That’s the idea. Have you picked a shirt to sacrifice?” Niall asks.

“Unfortunately, yes. The one I’m wearing.” Harry says with a heavy, resigned sigh. “What’s your excuse?”

“You cheated on me, of course.” Niall grins.

“Hey!” Harry pouts.

“It’s the only thing that would provoke this kind of reaction from me, and they know it. It’s either that or you asked me to be a Painted Rose.” Niall points out. “Now lay down while I get the knife and apply the blood, yeah?”

“You’re ruining a shirt that cost hundreds of pounds for a petty revenge fantasy.” Harry groans.

“I guess you should have thought about that before you decided to spend around fifty thousand pounds on a vacation that was supposed to be for just the two of us, and inviting four extra people without telling me, shouldn’t you?” Niall asks flatly. “I think you’re getting off easy here.”

“Couldn’t they just walk in on us shagging instead? Wouldn’t that be sufficiently traumatizing?” Harry offers.

“Four gay guys walking in on you fucking me wouldn’t be traumatizing. It would be free spank-bank material.” Niall scoffs, prying himself out of Harry’s grip to cross over to the stairs that lead down to the kitchen. “It’s like you forget that you’re fucking gorgeous with a great body, cock, and arse. You’re every gay man’s wet-dream.”

“I am more than just a sexual object Niall Horan!” Harry yells after him.

Niall laughs to himself, pulling open the fridge and grabbing the ‘blood’ that he’d made from corn syrup and food dye, and the fake knife that had kick-started the whole idea in Niall’s wicked little mind after he’d seen it in the store they visited to stock up on food for when the boys arrived. Louis will approve massively once he calms down enough to laugh. When he gets back upstairs, Harry is pouting on the couch, probably regretting every decision he’s made that led to this moment. “Alright, lay down and stop your fussing. You have a hundred other shirts back home, and at least ten others here for some reason.”

“Well I don’t see why I can’t at least wear one of your shirts for this.” Harry mutters.

“Because then I’d have exactly one shirt left for the entirety of this trip, and that’s just gross.” Niall laughs.

“I’ll buy you a new shirt.” Harry offers. “However many you want. There’s a whole city of shirts out there. Just don’t ruin my clothes.”

“You really don’t understand punishment, do you?” Niall smirks.

“I didn’t do anything wrong!” Harry squawks.

“We’ve got a life to plan out after you leave the club Haz.” Niall replies. “What if my hands get wrecked and I can’t be a surgeon, but you’ve blown all your money on frivolous impulses? You can’t get a real job. You have no education or real job experience. ‘Crime Lord’ doesn’t read well on a CV.”

“You can be a general practitioner.” Harry huffs. “And I have a lot more than fifty thousand pounds Niall. Not to mention what I’ll make in the next couple years before I retire, and my retirement bonus, and the three percent of total profits that I’ll make from the club for the rest of my life. I’ve learned my lesson. Cheaper holidays from now on.”

“Doubt I’ll be taking a holiday with you again any time soon. The cost of this is at least five separate trips’ worth of good long vacations that we could have had if you hadn’t done all of this. Which means that we’ll have to wait at least another four years until it’ll feel balanced.” Niall explains.

“When are you going to accept that I’m rich?” Harry groans. 

“When are you going to stop keeping secrets from me?” Niall fires back.

“I was trying to be nice.” Harry pouts. “It was supposed to be a surprise to make you happy. All the boys thought you’d love it, and I’ve been planning it since Christmas Eve.”

“Surprises don’t cost fifty thousand pounds. That’s officially a secret.” Niall grumbles.

“Are you going to be this miserly when we’re married?” Harry asks with a roll of his eyes.

“Maybe.” Niall grins. “Wait- What do you mean retirement bonus?”

“When I retire, a council of the still living Cheshire Cats will convene, and give me a bonus depending on how well or poorly I managed the club. The amount of money I brought in is what will determine it.” Harry tells him. “Since I’ll have held the position for five full years, and presuming the club doesn’t go down, I’ll be guaranteed at least two and a half million, five-hundred-thousand for every year I’ve run it, plus whatever bonus they feel like giving me based on performance. Not to mention how much I already have, which, since you’ve never asked, you wouldn’t know is about eighteen million and change.”

“Jesus.” Niall breathes out. “Eight- Eighteen million?”

“Yeah.” Harry nods. “Which is why I’m not that worried about splurging on our first holiday together. I don’t plan on doing this every time we go away, but I thought you’d enjoy this more if you could share the experience with your mates too.”

“Here.” Niall chuckles, shucking his shirt over his head and tossing it at Harry. “You’re forgiven this once, but don’t try and pull this kind of thing again.”

“Obviously.” Harry scoffs, shedding his shirt and tugging Niall’s on. “No more than twenty thousand on a vacation ever again.”

“Idiot.” Niall laughs, walking over with the container of blood.

 

“That was sick. Sick and twisted.” Louis growls, glaring furiously at Niall when he giggles into Harry’s shoulder. “Sick and twisted.”

“Luke knew that it wasn’t real.” Harry points out.

“So did I.” Zayn hums.

“Bull.” Louis spits out. “You’re the one who said we should dump the body in the ocean.”

“Because I knew it wasn’t real.” Zayn grins. “Niall only had anything on his hands. Seeing as the supposed wounds were centered on Harry’s chest, there would have been arterial spray all over his hands, face, and chest. I’m more curious as to how Luke knew.”

“He smiled a bit when Louis screamed.” Luke shrugs. “And why would he use a random switchblade like that rather than a kitchen knife? Why would he even have it? Didn’t make any sense.”

“So nobody here believes that I’m just not capable of murder?” Niall asks indignantly. “You all just thought I’d kill Haz?”

“Eh.” Zayn says with a shrug. “I could see it.”

“Dick.” Niall huffs, tossing one of the throw pillows at his stupid, smug face.

“I disagree.” Liam cuts in. “Niall could never kill Harry.”

“Thank you Liam.” Niall beams.

“You’re way too little. He’d overpower you easily.” Liam grins. “That would be like Zayn killing me. You’re both just too scrawny.”

“You can all go straight to hell.” Niall growls, burrowing into Harry’s side when the brunet pulls him closer. “Why on earth would you invite all these pricks?”

“Because these pricks are your friends.” Harry laughs. “And because more people was an excuse for more beds to shag you in.”

“This trip is horrible so far.” Louis groans. “I’m going to a hotel.”

“You’re going alone if you do.” Luke replies sternly. “Harry did a very nice thing inviting us on this holiday, and I’m not going to insult him by leaving unless he asks me to.”

“He’s really the only likeable one of the bunch.” Niall giggles. Harry hums in agreement, nodding along while Niall takes in the looks of betrayal on the faces of the other three. Liam just does that annoyingly disarming puppy-dog pout, eyes wide and glistening. Zayn scoffs and rolls his eyes, clutching the pillow Niall tossed at him just a little bit closer to his chest. Louis of course looks half to bursting with indignant rage, though whether that’s directed at Niall or Luke is up in the air. Luke just looks smug, settling down in an armchair and kicking his feet up on the coffee table.

“I don’t know. Liam isn’t that bad.” Harry says thoughtfully, bringing a triumphant grin to Liam’s face.

“He called me scrawny. He’s in the running for worst vacation buddy right now.” Niall huffs, wiping the smile off of Liam’s face in an instant. “Right alongside his boyfriend.”

“Hey!” Zayn squawks. “Don’t be mean to me! I haven’t slept enough to defend myself. Try sleeping next to this one on a twelve hour flight. It’s hell. Dramamine couldn’t combat his snoring.”

“Don’t you try and shove this off on me. You’re the one who forgot his earplugs even though we’ve been sleeping together for years.” Liam counters. “You should know better.”

“So glad we avoided that up in first class.” Louis smirks, dropping down on Luke’s lap. Niall turns to glare at Harry for paying for first class tickets in general, let alone for just Louis and Luke. Harry throws his hands up in surrender immediately, looking confused and worried. “It wasn’t him Ni. I’m the richest person in the room, remember? I upgraded our tickets myself.”

“Sorry. It’s hard to remember you have money when you look like that.” Niall snickers. “You don’t dress like a posh twat like my boyfriend, so it’s easy to forget you’re worth a few mil.”

“Hey.” Harry whines. “What did I do to deserve that?”

“Anyone here who doesn’t think Harry dresses like a posh twat, raise your hand.” Niall hums. Luke is the only one who does, and even that looks pretty sheepish and obligatory. “There you go.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about.” Harry huffs. He leans down and whispers in Niall’s ear “You called me your boyfriend. Are we not telling people then?”

“Oh, no, I just haven’t gotten used to the change in terms yet I guess. Sorry. Let me correct myself then.” Niall smiles. “My fiancé dresses like a posh twat.”

The room goes silent except for a breathy “Holy shit.” from Louis. Niall looks around, hoping to see some sort of reaction, but there’s nothing. Everyone’s faces look blank. Then it’s a flurry of activity all at once, Liam and Louis and Luke all shouting to talk over one another with questions. Zayn takes a different tactic, flying out of his chair and pelting Niall with the pillow.

“You were mad that we kept your surprise a secret, and you kept this one?” Zayn roars. He smacks out wildly with the cushion and punctuates each word with another hit as he asks “Who? The? Hell? Do? You? Think? You? Are?”

“It just happened a few hours before we got on the plane out here!” Niall squeals, trying to wedge himself under Harry to shield himself from the blows. The brunet is proving to be decidedly unhelpful, ducking out of the way and doing nothing to protect Niall. “I was going to tell you all when we got back! It wasn’t a secret!” he yelps.

“Maybe the first thing you said after your horrid little prank should have been ‘Guess what, I’m getting bloody married!’” Zayn scowls. “If Harry wasn’t so desperate for your approval, when would you have told us?”

“I was a bit distracted with the way you all said I’m capable of murder.” Niall huffs. “And this is not how best mates are supposed to react to good news.”

“I’m thrilled for you.” Zayn waves him off. “Of course I am, but I should have known about this five seconds after it happened, not nearly two days later.”

“Sorry that I didn’t just text you the second we proposed to each other. It’s not like that was supposed to be a private moment for the two of us or anything.” Niall counters.

“Oh my god!” Louis screeches, darting forward and bodily shoving Zayn out of the way. “You pulled a double proposal? Seriously?”

“Yup. Couldn’t let Haz beat me. I’m too competitive.” Niall grins.

“I still beat you. I proposed first.” Harry smirks. “And I bought the ring first.”

“Ah, but I won the element of surprise. Yours was predictable, but mine was an unexpected twist.” Niall hums.

“Tell. Me. Everything.” Louis orders, dropping down on the table with a very serious face.

 

“Oh god, this is the perfect way to spend a day.” Zayn sighs contentedly, settling back into the pool and submerging up to his neck. “Who needs fucking med-school when there’s this out there?”

“Right?” Niall giggles. “I’m seriously considering just absconding here and staying. Hazza says he doesn’t want to learn Portuguese to get by, but I think I can convince him.”

“You can’t.” Harry hums, stepping out onto the deck from inside the house. “This country is beautiful, but it’s nowhere near the top of the list of places I’d want to run away to and never go back. And you’re forgetting something important.”

“What?” Niall asks.

“Olli.” Harry grins. “No way Gems would send him here.”

“Which is exactly why you should let me steal him.” Niall huffs.

“I am never going to let you kidnap a child.” Harry replies casually, sinking down into the pool in nothing more than a tight black pair of briefs and a smile.

“Don’t you get all high and mighty on me. You’re the criminal. I’m the poor innocent boy you brought into your world of darkness.” Niall muses.

“You are anything but innocent.” Harry scoffs. “And I’ve kept you out of the underworld pretty well I think.”

“Nope. I’m tainted for life.” Niall says dramatically. “I can never return to the lad I was before, free from these deep running criminal urges!”

“You are such an idiot.” Zayn chuckles, splashing Niall when the blond throws a pout in his direction.

“Aw, you’re not an idiot Love.” Harry laughs, pulling Niall until the blond’s head is trapped against his chest. “You’re just weird.”

“Where is Luke?” Niall groans. “He’s the only person on this entire trip that I like now.”

“He’s upstairs recovering.” Louis replies from the door, a towel slung over his shoulder and a wicked grin splitting his face that Niall knows all too well. It means mischief. He breaks from Harry and makes it out of the pool just in time to avoid the miniature tidal wave that accompanies Louis’ pitchy screech of “Cannonball!”

Niall and Zayn exchange twin looks of triumph, having both realized what was coming in enough time to escape its effects. Harry on the other hand wasn’t so lucky, and looks every bit the part of a soaking wet cat. He has a mixture of outrage and shock in the one eye that Niall can see, his hair hanging down in damp curtains that plaster themselves against his face and neck like a mask. Louis surfaces shortly after the water stills, whooping and cackling like a loon. He never sees it coming when Harry leaps on top of him, pushing the smaller lad under the water and going down with him.

Niall can barely breathe he’s laughing so hard, clutching onto Zayn’s shoulder for support. Harry comes up first, smug satisfaction settled over his features as he makes his way to the edge of the pool. Louis just pouts, only keeping his head from the nose up above the water and making his way into the opposite corner from Harry.

Niall barely notices Louis though, his eyes instead locked on his fiancé as the brunet grabs onto the ladder and hoists himself up. Niall always rolls his eyes when everything goes into slow motion in movies when someone leaves a pool, mimicking ‘Fast Times at Ridgemont High’ so many times that it became a parody of itself. He gets it now though, because time literally seems to slow as he watches Harry climb out. Everything works for him. The hair flip, the rippling muscles, the clingy pair of pants that leave literally nothing to the imagination, the way his bottom lip is tucked between his teeth as he makes his way towards Niall.

“Jesus-” Niall breathes out once Harry stops in front of him. “We should uh- We should go inside now.”

“You have to go somewhere else first Love.” Harry smirks, wrapping his hands around Niall’s waist. “You really shouldn’t have laughed at me.”

“What? No!” Niall yelps, struggling desperately against Harry as the brunet lifts him over his shoulder. Resistance proves futile, and within seconds Niall is soaring through the air into the middle of the pool. He hits the water, and what had been refreshingly cool only moments before now feels icy cold as he sinks to the bottom. 

He breaks the surface after taking a moment to gather himself. Louis is giggling behind him, and Zayn is doubled over laughing so hard that it doesn’t even make a sound other than high pitched wheezing. Harry just has a cocky grin on that grows ten thousand times brighter when he plants a firm smack on Zayn’s ass that sends the darker lad tumbling face first into the pool with a startled squeal. Niall doesn’t bother warning Harry that Liam is behind him. All’s fair in love and war, and this is both.

 

“So-” Harry hums, hovering over Niall to drip water on him before dropping to the side. “How are you enjoying having the boys around?”

“It’s nice.” Niall says with a soft smile, rolling over to face Harry. “I mean, I would have loved to have this time with just you and me, but we’ve got our whole lives for just you and me, yeah?”

“That’s what I thought too.” Harry beams. “I really wanted it to be a surprise though.”

“Oh it was definitely a surprise.” Niall chuckles. “Just not for when you planned it.”

“I wanted it to be a good surprise.” Harry huffs.

“It was good Haz.” Niall says gently, cupping a hand against Harry’s already rapidly tanning cheek. It’s a good look on him. He seems natural with just a little bit of glowing bronze in his skin. “I’m sorry for the way I reacted. I know I have money issues, and that I get on you too much about the way you choose to spend your own money. I’m sorry for that. I’m going to try and be better about it, I promise.”

“No, you’re right to have gotten upset.” Harry sighs. “My job is all about opulence, and I forget that that has a time and place. I should be thinking about the future, our future, rather than spending so much on one holiday.”

“I still don’t understand why we needed seven rooms.” Niall admits, taking the leeway Harry is giving him, and running with it. Nobody ever accused him of being the bigger person.

“Honestly?” Harry asks sheepishly. “You’re all kind of volatile when left together for a while. I figured it was best if we all had separate spaces we could retreat to if anything happened. Holidays can be fun, but they can also cause a lot of tension. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a fight on this trip, and I wanted to be prepared. And this place had some extra amenities I was looking for. It made sense when I was just thinking about the way for us to have the best vacation. Thinking about it logically, I was being a fool to spend so much when we have no idea what the future holds.”

“Don’t you go becoming sensible now.” Niall grins. “Only one of us needs to be a miserly bastard, and I’d rather it be me. You just be you, because that’s who I fell in love with, even if you are ridiculous and extravagant sometimes. We can both chill out a bit when we’re older. Until then, I’ll just huff and puff, and you keep dreaming big.”

“Oh thank god.” Harry giggles. “I didn’t want to be all boring and grumpy. You’re much better at that.”

“Oh, so you think I’m boring?” Niall scoffs, slinging a leg over Harry’s hip and straddling over him. “And what would make me more exciting Haz?”

“I’m sure we can think of a few things.” Harry smirks.

“Actually-” Niall hums. “I brought something that I was hoping we’d get a chance to use. I’ve put a lot of time into this idea. Got a book on it and everything.”

“A book?” Harry asks.

“It’s- Complicated.” Niall shrugs, climbing off the bed and undoing the zip on his suitcase, lifting the top up in just the right way so that Harry can’t see the contents. “I was thinking about the things you told me about while I was in Mullingar.”

“You’ll have to refresh my memory on that score.” Harry chuckles. “I remember switching between crying and being incredibly horny, but not so many of the specifics of those three days.”

“You told me you wanted to try some things.” Niall says lightly. “You wanted me to spank you. Honestly, not that exciting by itself. Choke you. We did that. And then there was one other thing that you mentioned that caught my attention. It wasn’t- I mean if this ever happened I pictured it being the other way around, but the more I looked into it, the more I got interested in the idea.”

“Well what is it then?” Harry asks, craning his neck.

“It goes back a long way.” Niall continues, ignoring the frustrated huff Harry lets out to go on with his explanation. “It’s actually considered an art form in some places. The Japanese in particular have made a cultural phenomenon out of it, though they have a lot of really big kinks that have a semi-public light, so that’s not really a surprise. They’re very sexually adventurous.”

“Are we going to shag, or are you just going to read me a really vague book report?” Harry grumbles.

“So impatient.” Niall grins, wrapping his hands around two slim bundles of thin, red silk rope, and pulling them out of his bag. “If you don’t want to do it, I underst-”

“Yes. I am completely on board with that.” Harry cuts him off mid-word. “Those ropes though, does that mean you plan on doing-”

“Shibari?” Niall smirks, using a trick he’d learned from an online video tutorial that allows him to flick his wrists and send the ropes flinging out like whips. He spent an hour and a half learning how to properly bundle the ropes and perfecting the motion. He’s very bored without school when Harry is at work. “Yes. I assume you know about it because of the club?”

“Lou teaches seminars on it every six months for the Painted Roses who perform bondage services.” Harry explains. “And we had a gathering for some of our high priority clients last year that featured Shibari suspension as a central focus. It takes time and practice to learn something like that though.”

“I know.” Niall nods. “What I have planned is pretty basic as far as Shibari goes. I need more time before I can learn how to do the more complicated ties without risk of nerve compression. I have practiced these particular ties though, because they don’t risk that.”

“How have you practiced?” Harry asks, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.

“Don’t get mad.” Niall sighs. “I asked Liam to sub in as a body double.”

“Was he-” Harry starts.

“He had on pants.” Niall rushes out. “You two are just- He’s about the same size as you. Obviously nothing happened Haz. He just agreed so I could do this for you. He actually didn’t enjoy it much. He’s too much of a top to get anything out of it.”

“Don’t do that again.” Harry growls. “If you want to practice, you do it with me, or I’ll buy a mannequin when we get home for this purpose. Or I can have Lou give you private lessons if you want. You don’t go to another bloke again.”

“I won’t.” Niall assures him. “I just wanted to surprise you by having some down so that I didn’t have to stop and start over and over again.”

“We really shouldn’t do surprises.” Harry grumbles.

“Are you mad?” Niall asks quietly.

“Just jealous.” Harry huffs. “I don’t like you touching other men like this.”

“I know.” Niall mutters. “It won’t happen again.”

“I suppose I don’t have much room to talk, do I?” Harry sighs.

“That’s different. It’s your job.” Niall mumbles. “I did it because I wanted to learn something good for you, but I shouldn’t have gone to Liam.”

“Well then, come over here and show me what a good little student you are.” Harry smirks. “I’ll be grading quite harshly, so you’d better not have laid your hands on Liam for no good reason.”

“I think you’ll like it.” Niall grins, consolidating both of the ropes into one hand and sliding them until their lengths match each other. “But for now, I’m the one giving instructions, understood?”

“Of course.” Harry nods, a playful smile twitching at the corners of his lips. “Do you want me to call you Sir?”

“Get on your knees.” Niall orders, ignoring Harry’s cheeky comment completely. “Hands at your side, but shoulders loose.”

“Yes Sir.” Harry giggles, crawling to the center of the bed and lifting himself up so that he’s standing on his knees. Niall suppresses the urge to roll his eyes. He’ll let Harry be as cheeky as he wants for now. Niall will be in complete control very soon, and Harry will be at his mercy and begging for release.

“I’m going to do three different ties on you.” Niall tells him, stepping up onto the bed and walking back behind Harry. He drapes the centers of the ropes over the back of Harry’s neck. “There are the ones that would bind you completely in a single harness, but I’m not that advanced, and I don’t want to hurt you by doing one wrong.”

“I understand.” Harry chuckles. “Sir.”

Niall lets himself roll his eyes this time, but only because Harry can’t see him. He runs his hands along Harry’s shoulders and then down his chest, twining the ropes until they form the loose, interlocking diamond pattern that forms the base of the entire harness. He pulls it taut, bringing them behind Harry’s back in a broad X across his shoulder-blades, and then in parallel columns over the opposite shoulders. He weaves the hanging strands through the original diamond pattern, alternating over and under, and then through each other.

“It’s about to get a bit more complicated, so try not to move.” Niall instructs, crossing over in front of Harry and kneeling down to get a better look at what he’s doing.

“Will do, Sir.” Harry grins, even as he rolls his shoulders. 

Niall yanks the ropes on one side tight, making Harry wince a little, but shutting him right up. Niall just barely manages not to smirk, instead choosing to keep his face perfectly neutral under the guise of just doing it to make sure there’s no slack. He pulls the four on one side around Harry’s back, looping them under his other arm and then weaving them through the pattern in the careful way he’d learned. He repeats the process on the other side, leaning back to make sure everything looks right.

It only gets harder from there. Niall isn’t exactly known for having delicate fingers, but he does have decent dexterity from practicing surgical procedures on dummies for the last few years. He brings one side around Harry’s back, and then begins the precise process off snaking the twin strands over and under through the latticework on Harry’s chest, before doing it again with the other side’s pair. It’s so intricate, so complicated, but Niall manages not to cock it up through muscle memory alone. Liam let him spend hours doing and redoing the weave until he got it right multiple times in a row without a single mistake.

Finally, blessedly, he gets to the easy part. The final weave falls into place, and Niall crosses the ropes behind Harry’s back and down to his hips. He follows the defined V-shape of Harry’s hipbones, and tells him “Spread your legs.”

“Yes Sir.” Harry giggles, opening up his stance until Niall can slip the ropes into the crease of Harry’s thighs. “Oh- Oh that feels weird.”

“Does it hurt?” Niall asks.

“No- No, it’s just not a place I’m used to having anything there.” Harry mumbles. “I’m also not used to having you touch me so much, and not at all at the same time.”

“Be patient.” Niall hums, feeding the ropes under Harry’s ass cheeks and back around his thighs, then up, locking them under the weave across Harry’s chest until they cross back down the way they’d come. He brings them back down under the cross on Harry’s hips, looping them around each of the brunet’s thighs from behind. The last step just requires Niall to perform a simple knot to lock them in place, and he just barely manages it with the rope he has left on each side. “There. The first tie is done.”

“Doesn’t really bind me much, does it?” Harry asks.

“Does more than you think.” Niall chuckles. “Try moving.”

“Oh!” Harry laughs, twisting his torso to find that the knots and weave keep him stiffer than he thought, rubbing at his groin and shoulders when he tries to move. “Never mind then Sir. What should I do now?”

“Put your arms together above your head, wrists touching.” Niall orders, stepping off of the bed to grab the next rope from his bag. He only needs one this time, but it’s quite long so that it can be knotted multiple times. Truth be told, Niall doesn’t enjoy performing this knot as much as the weave harness. It’s very time consuming for how simple it is, forcing him to perform the same action over and over, and moving down the arms until everything is locked in place.

He does however like the way Harry’s eyes darken once he makes the first knot, pulling the brunet’s biceps closer together and cinching them in place behind his head. “How’s that feel?” Niall asks.

“Fucking brilliant Sir.” Harry smirks.

“Don’t talk.” Niall orders. “Give a small nod if I ask you a question until I’ve finished. Don’t say anything unless you’re in pain. When you talk you move, and it could slip, which means it could hurt you. Do you understand?”

Harry opens his mouth to say something, but Niall gives a harsh tug on the rope before he can speak. Harry grunts, but then nods his head slightly. Niall moves on to the next in the line of double column ties, starting it just above Harry’s elbows. “Still good?” Niall questions once he finishes looping it around and tying it off, binding Harry’s arms even closer together.

Harry nods quickly this time, his lips never parting as he looks up at Niall eagerly. Niall gives him a brief smile of approval before refocusing to do the third tie below Harry’s elbow. Each time he finishes one he asks if Harry is still alright, and each time Harry nods, his pupils blowing out more and more each time until Niall finishes off the final knot just underneath his wrists. “How’s that feel Babe?” Niall asks him again, giving a tug to make sure that everything is locked in place. “You can speak now.”

“Feels good Sir.” Harry breathes out, the word sounding different on his lips now. It’s like someone threw a switch, and what was supposed to be gentle teasing has become something else. Niall can roll with that.

“Sit back on the bed.” Niall instructs. Harry tries to move, but when he starts to teeter over Niall pulls tight on the cords trailing from his wrists to keep him upright. “Careful. Your balance will be affected by this Babe. You need to move slowly.”

“Yes Sir.” Harry murmurs, lowering his body, with Niall holding the makeshift leash, until he’s pressed back into the headboard. Niall adjusts him so that he’s a bit lower down, and then ties off the leash to column in the center of the headboard. “What now Sir?”

“Now we do the final tie of course.” Niall smirks, walking off of the bed and reaching into his bag for the final length of rope. This one is a bit different, less than half as skinny as Niall’s pinky and so, so soft. Of course it has to be, considering what it’s used for. He crawls back into the bed, settling between Harry’s legs. “I should warn you though. I’ve never practiced this one on anyone but myself. It’s more- intimate- than I felt like I could get away with doing to Liam. Tell me Babe, have you ever heard of CBT?”

“No- Niall, no!” Harry whines.

“Shh, don’t worry your pretty little head Babe.” Niall tells him. “This one isn’t painful. It’s just- It prolongs things. Won’t let you cum until I choose to let you.”

“Niall!” Harry groans, struggling against the restraints.

Niall leans forward, hovering over Harry’s torso and leans in to whisper in his ear “If you’re a good boy for me, then you won’t have anything to worry about. Are you going to be a good boy for me Babe?”

“Yes.” Harry nods. “I’ll be good.”

“Say it right.” Niall orders.

“I’ll be a good boy Sir.” Harry whimpers.

“Then stop struggling and spread those pretty legs open wide for me.” Niall tells him, sitting back on his haunches. Harry does as he’s told, his erection standing tall and gorgeous, leaking steadily as his legs part as far as he can make them. “Unfortunately Babe, I need you soft when I start this. Call me when that happens. I’ll be downstairs, but I’ll leave the door open so I can hear you.”

“Niall!” Harry yells, lunging forward until his shoulders almost dislocate from the double column tie. “Ow! Fuck!”

“Don’t fight it Babe.” Niall says in his best impression of commanding. “You’ll hurt yourself.”

“You are not leaving me here!” Harry hisses, struggling again and wincing in pain.

Niall hooks a hand under Harry’s knee, using the brunet’s surprise to his advantage and flipping him onto his stomach. He straddles over Harry’s legs, squeezing tight to keep him in place, then brings his hand down in a harsh slap across Harry’s ass. “I said stop fighting the ties Harry!” Niall growls, laying another smack across the reddened cheeks for good measure. “Stay still before you hurt yourself.”

“Niall!” Harry cries, wiggling fruitlessly under the blond. “Don’t leave me here like this!”

“Ask nicely.” Niall commands, spanking Harry again for refusing to stay still as he was told.

“Please!” Harry whimpers. “Please don’t go Sir. I’ll be a good boy. I won’t fight the ties. Please don’t leave me here like this Sir.”

“I was only teasing when I said I was going to leave you Babe.” Niall murmurs in his ear, rubbing soothingly over the handprints glowing up at him from Harry’s bum. “Did you really think I’d leave you all tied up like this for just anyone to come in and use? No. I’m yours, and you’re mine. Nobody else even gets to see you when you’re being a good boy for me. Do they?”

“No Sir.” Harry mumbles.

“You don’t sound like you like that very much Harry.” Niall huffs. “Do you have a problem being only mine?”

“No Sir.” Harry says firmly. “I just didn’t like you playing a trick on me Sir.”

“I’m sorry Babe.” Niall says gently. “That was mean of me. I do actually need you to be soft before I can finish the ties though. Are you soft for me yet Babe?”

“No Sir.” Harry admits. “I uh- I enjoyed the spanking Sir.”

“That wasn’t really the goal Babe.” Niall sighs. “You were being a bad boy, throwing a tantrum like that, and you were being punished. If you enjoy it, then it isn’t really punishment, is it?”

“No Sir.” Harry says quietly.

“Lucky for you, I’m feeling forgiving tonight.” Niall hums, lessening the grip of his thighs on Harry just enough to give him room to move. “Roll back over.”

“Like this Sir?” Harry asks once he’s on his back, stomach taut under Niall’s thighs.

“Exactly like that.” Niall smiles, leaning forward to press a light, approving kiss to Harry’s lips. “Now if you continue to be a good boy for me, your punishment will be brief, understand?”

“Yes Sir.” Harry nods.

“Good.” Niall grins. “Now don’t move, and don’t make even a little noise. If you can go for ten seconds, then I’ll consider your sentence served.”

“Yes Sir.” Harry repeats before pressing his lips into a thin line, his muscles all tensing to keep himself still. He doesn’t stay that way though. Not once Niall lightly skims fingers along his sensitive sides. A small giggle slips through Harry’s lips, and that’s enough to reset the counter in Niall’s mind (which had only reached two) back down to zero.

“Keep quiet Babe.” Niall reminds him, moving his hands up higher, closer to Harry’s armpits. “Every time you make a sound or try to squirm away, I’m going to start back at zero seconds and move to an even more ticklish spot.”

Harry doesn’t even nod his understanding, just screws his face up, turning a shade of deep red by the time Niall gets to eight, and the slightest of squeaks escapes from the back of Harry’s throat. Niall might have let it slide, might have pretended that he didn’t hear it, but Harry’s eyes pop back open and he groans “Fuck!”

“Back to zero Babe.” Niall sighs.

“No, please Sir, I’ve learned my lesson!” Harry whimpers.

“Talking back takes you up to fifteen seconds.” Niall smirks. 

Harry lets out a small whimper, but then nods and says “I’m sorry Sir. It won’t happen again Sir.”

“Good Boy.” Niall tells him, leaning forward to press a light kiss to Harry’s forehead. “I’m going to start again, so get ready and don’t react.”

Niall’s fingers wiggle over the exposed skin of Harry’s armpits, and by the grace of god Harry manages to get through all fifteen seconds before he breaks down and tries to wiggle away, giggling like a loon. “Such a good boy for me.” Niall murmurs, cupping Harry’s face in his hands. “Not going to hurt yourself or throw fits anymore, are you?”

“No Sir.” Harry replies. “I’ll be a good boy.”

“I don’t suppose that happened to do the trick, did it Babe?” Niall asks.

“It definitely did.” Harry mumbles before adding “Sir. I didn’t enjoy that Sir.”

“I know Babe. That was the point.” Niall hums. “It was a punishment, remember?”

“It was mean.” Harry mutters.

“You were bad right after you promised me you’d be a good boy for me.” Niall returns. “I’ve put a lot of work into learning how to do this without hurting you, and you almost threw that right out the window. You could have done some real damage, and I don’t want you thinking you can just do that to yourself, understand?”

“Yes.” Harry huffs. “It was still mean.”

“I’ll make it up to you.” Niall chuckles. “But first, now that you’re in the proper state for it, I need to do the third tie.”

“I hate the third tie.” Harry grumbles. “It’s been nothing but trouble so far, and you haven’t even done it yet. I hate it.”

“Are you saying you want to stop?” Niall asks him seriously, reaching up towards where Harry is tied to the bed. “I can undo all of this. Just give me a minute.”

“No!” Harry yelps. “I still want to do this Sir. I want this, I swear I do. Please don’t undo it. Please Sir!”

“Alright, calm down.” Niall says gently. “If you actually want to do this, then we will, but you have to tell me if you’re uncomfortable with anything. I shouldn’t have started this without a safe word or something. I got so caught up in things that I didn’t set the boundaries ahead of time. It was stupid of me. I’m sorry Haz.”

“Don’t call me that right now.” Harry pouts. “I’m Babe, and you’re Sir.”

“Harry-” Niall sighs.

“Babe!” Harry whines.

“Harry-” Niall says firmly. “I’m being serious here.”

“Fine.” Harry huffs. “The safe word is banana. Happy?”

“Yes.” Niall nods. “Babe.”

Harry preens at that, his face lighting up like the first time Niall told him that he loves him. It’s a beautiful sight. Definitely one of Niall’s favorites in the world, if not the absolute favorite. “God, you’re gorgeous Babe.” Niall murmurs. “I love you so god-damned much.”

“You should do the third tie now Sir.” Harry says sheepishly. “Otherwise we’re going to end up waiting again, and neither of us want that.”

“Of course.” Niall chuckles. The fact that Harry gets off on emotional intimacy may just be the sweetest thing in the world. Niall can’t even help himself when he ducks down to pepper kisses on Harry’s face, pressing a lingering one to the brunet’s lips before he scoots back down between Harry’s legs. 

Harry is still soft, but Niall can tell he’ll have to work quickly or things won’t stay that way. His eyes are already growing dark again, and his tongue is running over his obscene bottom lip. Niall knows the expression well. It’s the same one Harry gets before he tackles the blond onto the bed and fucks him boneless.

Niall grabs the final rope, folding it in half and looping it round into a lark’s head knot. He gathers Harry up in one hand, cock and balls, and slips the loop over both until it’s situated tightly underneath. He pulls the cord tight, earning him a nice little gasp from Harry. “Is it too tight Babe?” Niall asks.

“No Sir.” Harry breathes out. “Is that all? Are you done?”

“Not quite Babe.” Niall hums. He takes the twin strands in hand, twisting them until the midpoint, and then folding it back up between Harry’s testicles, separating them. He passes the lines behind Harry’s shaft, crossing them over each other, and pulls them back down, making a square knot and pulling it tight into place, finishing the tie. He leans down, pressing a kiss to each of Harry’s balls. “Now I’m done. How does it feel?”

“Tight Sir.” Harry answers.

“Too tight?” Niall asks.

“Not yet, but can we wait until I’m hard and see if you need to adjust it Sir?” Harry requests.

“Of course Babe.” Niall nods. “I’ll help you out a bit with that, yeah? Want me to make you feel good with my mouth?”

“Yes please Sir.” Harry giggles, squirming eagerly under Niall’s hands at the offer to finally be touched. His half full prick wiggles from side to side, and Niall barely suppresses his own giggle. He leans in, pressing open-mouthed kisses up Harry’s shaft, running his tongue up the shower-dampened skin. A low moan starts to build from the back of Harry’s throat, turning into a full-blown mewl when Niall takes the head in his mouth.

He’s not used to Harry like this, so submissive and insistent at the same time, the whimpers and whispered ‘Sir’s slipping out of his mouth so different than the powerful man that Niall has known these last three months. It’s not like Harry has never relinquished control, has never been desperate with Niall, but he’s never been quite like this before. Niall gets it though. Harry has so much pressure on him, so much stress, and he spends every moment trying to make Niall happy as best as he can. It has to be a relief to just let go a little bit. That’s how Niall is interpreting it for now. He makes a mental note to ask Harry later if this is something he wants or needs to happen occasionally.

For now he’s just going to take encouragement from the sounds Harry is making and the way his legs keep twitching, his toes digging into Niall’s sides. Once Harry is stretching Niall’s jaw all the way he pulls off, getting a high pitched whine in response. “How is it Babe?” Niall questions. “Do I need to loosen it at all?”

“It’s- It’s a little tight Sir.” Harry sighs. “Just a little though.”

“How about now?” Niall asks, loosening the knot by a little bit. “How’s it feel now?”

“Better Sir.” Harry smiles. “What now Sir?”

“That depends.” Niall chuckles. “What do you want me to do with you Babe?”

“I want you to fuck me.” Harry breathes out.

“That’s it?” Niall asks. “That’s all you want?”

“I mean-” Harry mumbles. “Do you want to do more?”

“I’m asking about you Babe.” Niall murmurs. “What do you want?”

“Well-” Harry says quietly. “No, never mind.”

“Harry-” Niall sighs. The brunet lets out a long whine at the mention of his name, so Niall corrects himself. “Babe- Tell me what you want, or I’m going to untie you and we’re just going to sleep. Is that what you want?”

“No.” Harry whimpers. “Sir, please! That’s all I want!”

“You’re lying to me.” Niall huffs. “Fine. I’m untying you now.”

“I want you to eat me!” Harry blurts out when Niall reaches for the knots. 

“Like a rim-job, or like a blowjob?” Niall asks.

“The first one Sir.” Harry mumbles, a blush rising high on his cheeks at the confession.

“Then why wouldn’t you just say so Babe?” Niall asks.

“We talked about it that one time, but like- You never brought it up again, so I thought you weren’t interested.” Harry admits.

“Well I am Babe.” Niall hums, running a hand down Harry’s chest. “But from now on, when I ask you a question, you answer it. No more of this cheek, or I’ll have to punish you again. I don’t want to do that. Do you want me to do that?”

“No Sir.” Harry squeaks.

“Then be a good boy for me, and fold up your legs so I have better access, okay Babe?” Niall smirks.

“Yes Sir.” Harry nods, lifting his legs up as far as he can without actually being able to hold them back. Niall takes his time getting to it, teasing his fingers down the inside of Harry’s thighs, following the touches with his lips and teeth, making bruises that will mark him as Niall’s whenever he wears those obscenely small swimming shorts he has packed.

Harry doesn’t protest or whine about Niall not getting straight to it, and Niall rewards that accordingly. He’s not sure what he was expecting the taste to be like, but mostly it only tastes overpoweringly of soap from the shower they’d just finished before all of this. There’s a bit of sweat mixed in, and the familiar taste of Harry’s skin too, but overall it’s just like any other part of Harry. He’s not sure why some people are so squeamish about this, especially when it gets people to make the kinds of noises that Harry is right now.

If any of the other boys hadn’t known what was happening already, they certainly do now. Harry’s propensity for being loud while intimate doesn’t seem diminished in the slightest by the fact that there are four other people in the house. In fact, he seems louder than usual, though whether that’s because he actually is, or because Niall is hyperaware of every sound coming out of Harry because he wants to know if he’s doing a good job, is up for debate. Maybe this is just what Harry sounds like when he’s being submissive, or when he has Niall’s tongue running in circles around his rim. Honestly, Niall doesn’t care why. All he cares about is that Harry seems to be enjoying this, and that means Niall is too.

“You like this Babe?” Niall asks.

“Yes Sir.” Harry whimpers. “Feels so good Sir.”

“How do you want it?” Niall asks, tracing the letters of his name with his tongue over Harry’s hole. “Like that?”

“Or what about this?” He flattens his tongue, running it in a stripe through the cleft of Harry’s ass. He switches it up again, pointing his tongue and dipping it into the tight heat before asking “Or maybe that?”

“Can’t decide.” Harry whines, arching his back off the bed and then collapsing back down in a boneless pile, his legs only still in the air from Niall’s hands on the back of his thighs. “Do whatever you want with me Sir.”

“There are about a million things I want to do with you Babe.” Niall hums. “Help me narrow it down a bit.”

“What do you want to do with me?” Harry asks desperately.

“Everything.” Niall smirks, crawling up Harry’s torso. “I want to fuck you, and be fucked by you. I want to take you apart a million times, and put you back together a million and one. I want to visit all of the beautiful places the world has to offer with you. I want to watch you walk down the aisle, and say I do with you. I want to raise a family with you. I want to grow old with you. I want to do everything with you Babe, but right now, I just want to know what you want.”

“Fuck me.” Harry whispers. “Please Sir. I need you inside me now.”

“I can keep going.” Niall offers. “We don’t have to jump straight to that if you want me to keep going with what I was doing.”

“No. Please Sir.” Harry begs. “Please fuck me. I need it Sir.”

“If that’s what you want.” Niall nods. “I’ll open you up now, and-”

“Hurry.” Harry pleads.

“Calm down Babe. I’ll be fucking you soon enough.” Niall chuckles. He runs his finger along Harry’s bottom lip teasingly, and is pleasantly surprised when the brunet sucks the digit into his mouth and swirls his tongue around it. Niall presses a second finger against Harry’s lip questioningly, and he takes that one in too with an approving moan. He sucks eagerly, coating Niall’s fingers, but biting lightly when the blond tries to pull them away.

“Not yet.” Harry mumbles around Niall’s fingers. “Not unless you replace it with something else.”

“It’s going to be difficult to open you up if I’ve got my dick in your mouth.” Niall points out.

“You could get above me.” Harry replies. At least that’s what Niall thinks he says. It’s a little difficult to understand him around Niall’s fingers. “Like- Like sixty-nine.”

“Haven’t done that since I was a teenager.” Niall laughs. Harry huffs and rolls his eyes. “Sure Babe. If that’s what you want.”

“It is Sir.” Harry grins, letting Niall’s fingers slip out from between his slicked up lips. 

“You’re pretty demanding for someone in your position.” Niall scoffs. “Shouldn’t I be the one giving orders?”

“Then do it.” Harry smirks. “Stop asking me what I want, and just fucking take me already. Sir.”

“I want it to be good for you.” Niall mumbles.

“Sir, I am literally bound and begging for it.” Harry replies. “You could fuck my throat so raw that I can’t speak tomorrow, or not let me cum, or spank me until I cry, and it would still be good for me. I agreed to do this because I love the idea of you being dominant for once. So be dominant. I trust you. Take what you want from me Sir.”

“What’s your word?” Niall asks him, to remind Harry that the option is there rather than because he can’t remember it. It’s still very much at the forefront of Niall’s mind.

“Banana.” Harry chuckles.

“And you promise you’ll use it if anything is too much?” Niall requests.

“I promise Sir.” Harry nods.

“Snap your fingers if you can’t talk.” Niall tells him. “I haven’t decided yet whether or not I’m going to fuck that pretty mouth of yours, but if I do and you can’t say it, then-”

“I understand Sir.” Harry cuts him off, sounding half frustrated and half desperate. “Snap if I can’t speak. Will you just do something already?”

“I’m in charge now.” Niall growls, digging his fingernails into Harry’s chest and raking them down, leaving eight beautiful parallel lines of angry red against the bronzed skin, broken apart by the spider-web of rope patterned on his chest. “You wanted me to give the orders, so I’m going to, and you’re going to be a good boy for me and follow them without talking back to me again.”

“Yes Sir.” Harry gasps, his torso arcing up into the scratches, seeking more now that Niall’s blunted fingernails have stopped their assault. There’s a slight whimper when Niall leaves him like that, but the brunet keeps his mouth closed and that’s what Niall was looking for. 

He leans down, scraping his teeth over the reddened flesh, nipping and biting harder than he normally would, until he knows that everyone will be able to see that Harry belongs to him. Harry will regret this in the morning when the eroticism has faded and the bruises are just sensitive, his wrists rubbed a bit raw even though Niall bought the nicest, softest ropes he could find. Then again, maybe he’ll find something enjoyable about that, about having an aching reminder that Niall and he belong to each other.

Niall leaves no inch of exposed torso uncovered by purpled bruises, dozens of imprints of his teeth littering over Harry until the brunet is practically sobbing with desire. He opens the bottle of lube as silently as possible, slicking up his fingers while distracting Harry with his mouth and a tweak of the nipple with his free hand. Instead of the shocked gasp he was expecting, Harry lets out a low, echoing groan when Niall presses the first finger in, accompanied by the very identifiable sound of rope stretching when Harry’s hands grip it tight.

“Fu-u-u-ck!” Harry moans, his hips bucking automatically when Niall presses the pad of his finger against the brunet’s prostate. “Sir!”

“Do you need to use your word?” Niall asks him, stilling his finger.

“No!” Harry yelps. “Please don’t stop Sir! Please, please, please Sir. I need it. I need more.”

“Shh Babe.” Niall hums, retracting his finger to push back in with two. If Harry wants more, then Niall will give him more. He gives Harry a moment to adjust, or to use the word if he needs to, but when no protest is forthcoming Niall starts his work back up, practically punching his fingers into Harry. He’s nervous about it, that he’s pushing things too far, too hard, but he knows every expression Harry has by now, and this one is rapturous. Harry can’t hide any emotion from Niall anymore, and if he wasn’t enjoying it Niall would be able to tell.

“God!” Harry groans, tossing his head back against the arms roped behind his head. “Sir- Sir I’m- I’m-”

He never finishes his sentence, but his point is made pretty clear when his entire body goes rigid, his cock twitching wildly even though nothing is coming out. Harry lets out a strangled cry, his face going red, and Niall sympathizes. Orgasm without release is almost as painful as it is pleasurable. It’s like your body is tearing itself apart in the best and worst way possible at the same time. Niall hadn’t meant to do that to Harry. Not yet at least.

“Oh god! Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Harry chokes out, his body shuddering and clenching around Niall’s fingers. “Please don’t stop Sir.”

“Are you sure?” Niall asks cautiously, all pretense of dominance dropped.

“Please Sir!” Harry sobs, working himself up and down on Niall’s fingers. “Please don’t stop!”

Harry knows the word, knows that he can stop this if it’s too much, so Niall has to take him at his word. This only works if Harry trusts Niall, and in return Niall trusts Harry. He has to believe that Harry would tell him if they needed to stop. So he gives another shallow thrust of his fingers, testing the waters with his eyes locked on Harry’s face, searching for any negative reaction.

“More.” Harry pleads, looking down at Niall with wide, wet eyes. “Sir, I promise it’s what I want. I’m not going to break.”

Niall works his fingers in a little harder, keeping a careful watch on Harry’s face while at the same time actually starting to stretch Harry open. All this begging is going straight to Niall’s cock, which hasn’t been touched at all and is practically furious about it. If Harry insists that he’s fine, then Niall fully intends to fuck him long and slow, making sure that he feels that just as much through the next few days as the love-bites on his stomach.

He’s not really sure when this became a thing for him, this insistent need to mark Harry as his, but he has a sneaking suspicion that it has to do with that little band of silver gleaming on Harry’s left ring finger. Harry isn’t the only one it’s affected. Niall loves seeing it there, loves knowing that if anyone pays attention, they’ll see that Harry belongs to someone. He’s pretty certain that Harry won’t be allowed to wear it to work for pretty obvious reasons. Not on his finger at least. Niall will most likely have to buy him a chain to wear it on instead.

“Sir!” Harry whines, alerting Niall to the fact that his train of thought has distracted him to the point that he’s stopped doing anything.

“Sorry Babe.” Niall chuckles, giving Harry’s prostate a slow rub in apology. “Forgive me?”

“I’ll forgive you when you fuck me Sir.” Harry groans, his tone hovering on the line between frustrated and desperate. Niall knows it well, knows that Harry will be grouchy for the rest of the night if they don’t move on soon.

So Niall draws his fingers back out, ignoring Harry’s whining protest, and wipes them on a rag. He spends quite a few moments looking around for a condom before it once again hits him that they aren’t using them anymore. He’ll feel nothing but Harry around him, no longer constrained by a suffocating layer of latex. He’ll claim Harry inside as much as out, and that thought makes his erection throb painfully, neglected as it has been.

His own hand sliding over himself, the slick feeling of lube wetting his cock, is a blessed relief. It draws Niall’s breath out in a ragged gasp, turning his vision white. “What did I say about giving orders Babe?” Niall breathes out, moving his free arm behind him to support his weight. “What happens if you try to tell me what to do again?”

“I get punished Sir.” Harry supplies dutifully.

“For your punishment, I think I’m just going to make you watch while I wank until I finish without ever fucking you.” Niall smirks. It’s a bluff of course. Niall can’t even fathom not fucking Harry right now. But the look that crosses Harry’s face tells him it’s worked.

‘Distraught.’ Niall thinks to himself, giving his cock a languid tug. ‘He actually looks distraught at the prospect of not getting to have me inside him.’

“Sir!” Harry whimpers. “Please! I’m sorry Sir! I didn’t mean it Sir!”

“Whether you meant it or not, you did it Babe.” Niall hums, keeping his strokes slow and shallow both to keep himself in control, and to tease Harry. “We discussed this.”

“I’m sorry Sir.” Harry whispers, balling his hands into fists. It’s when tears start to gather in the corners of Harry’s eyes that Niall actually begins to feel guilty, letting his hand fall away from his cock.

He crawls back up between Harry’s legs, using his clean hand to wipe away the trail of a tear that’s made its way down the brunet’s cheek. “How bad do you want it Babe?” Niall asks, his lips hovering centimeters over Harry’s own.

“I need it Sir.” Harry mumbles. “I need it.”

“Well you’re mine, and I do want to take care of your needs.” Niall smirks, canting his hips forward to rub his length across Harry’s needy hole, dragging a low moan out of the brunet. “I suppose I can forgive you one last time if you promise that you’re really, truly sorry.”

“I am Sir.” Harry nods furiously, brushing their noses together in a way that would make Niall giggle if he weren’t remaining commanding for Harry’s sake. “I’m very sorry Sir. I promise.”

“Good boy.” Niall grins, closing the gap between them with a bruising kiss to distract Harry from his hand going down to steady his length and pressing his head against Harry’s entrance. He doesn’t slide in slowly like he normally would, sheathing himself inside Harry in only seconds instead. The word is there for that. If it’s too much Harry will say it. Niall knows Harry would say it.

“Fuck yes!” Harry hisses, clenching tight around Niall until it’s almost painful. “Oh god- Please Sir!”

“I’m gonna make this nice and slow Babe.” Niall murmurs in Harry’s ear, giving a minute roll of his hips. “I’m gonna fuck you for a good long time before I fill you up.”

“Sir.” Harry breathes out, the warm air brushing over Niall’s lips.

This part Niall knows. He knows how to fuck Harry now. How to find the perfect angle with his hips, how to find the perfect speed and strength that leaves Harry a whimpering mess, how to get him to cum without ever being touched. Harry taught him everything there is to know about pleasuring him, and Niall is going to put it all out there this time. Even if this is a bit different with Harry literally begging for it and bound to keep him from participating. That changes the playing field a bit, but it doesn’t change the game. So yeah, Niall knows this part. He knows how to do this without hesitating.

He takes minutes before he even gives in to himself enough to do more than make slow circles with his hips. The thrusts are shallow, only one or two inches at a time with decent intervals in between. Harry’s face is torn between pleasure and frustration, but he seems to learn his lesson after he tries to buck his hips and Niall plants a firm spank on the side of his ass.

It gets harder as time goes on, to keep up the shallow little thrusts, and Niall lets himself go a bit more. He leans back on his haunches, hooking his hands under Harry’s knees and folding them back towards the brunet’s stomach. He does his best not to look, trying to keep his vision firmly focused on Harry being gorgeous and writhing around with whispered ‘Sir’s falling from his lips almost unconsciously. He can’t help it though, and the sight of his cock disappearing into Harry’s stretched out hole is mesmerizing.

His resolve breaks, and soon he’s hammering into Harry, pressing his legs down a little bit farther until “Sir!” Harry moans, his back rocketing off the mattress. “Please Sir- Just like that!”

“Feel good Babe?” Niall asks around his own low groan. “You like it when I fuck you like that?”

“Love it Sir!” Harry mewls, biting his already plumped bottom lip. “You fuck me so good Sir!”

“What do you want Babe?” Niall questions, tightening the grip he has on Harry’s legs and rabbiting in a bit faster because he knows he’s not going to be able to keep his orgasm at bay much longer.

“Want you to- To fill me up Sir.” Harry gasps. “Sir- I- I’m-”

“Do it.” Niall growls.

“Fuck!” Harry sobs, his body shaking through yet another dry orgasm. It’s the clench that does Niall in, the way Harry’s hole squeezes around him so hard that it has the blond’s vision going white as he cums only seconds after Harry should have. He pumps in hard, burying himself to the hilt when the last ropes of cum have finished marking Harry as Niall’s from the inside.

It has to be a full minute or two before Niall comes back down, hearing an increasingly frustrated string of ‘Sir’s until he remembers who he is and what he’s doing. “Sir please-” Harry whimpers. “I- I need to cum for real. Please, please, please Sir.”

“Of course Babe.” Niall nods, reaching down and fitting his fingers into the square knot he used to finish off the third tie. It’s easy from there, the entire process taking no more than ten seconds for Niall to work the rope off of Harry and watch him tremble in relief. He wraps his lube slicked hand around Harry’s eager cock, giving it a languid tug as he makes a shallow thrust with his hips.

“God!” Harry chokes out. “Just like that Sir.”

“You have exactly one minute to cum, or else you’re not allowed to for the rest of the night. Understand Babe?” Niall smirks. He’d like to say it’s because he’s still being dominant, but it’s really just because he knows he’ll start softening up soon and Harry would probably prefer to cum with Niall inside of him after all of this.

“Won’t take that long Sir.” Harry mumbles, fucking himself back onto Niall’s cock, and then forward into his hand at a rapid pace. True to his word, it doesn’t take that long. In fact, it’s only about fifteen seconds before Harry is spurting buckets onto his rope-patterned chest with a strangled moan, clenching again so tightly around Niall that he has to pull out because it’s just painful at this point.

Harry collapses against the mattress, panting out heaving breaths and looking as blissed out as Niall has ever seen him. His face is practically glowing, even with his eyes half lidded, and his body is basically a boneless puddle with his limbs just resting wherever, and however, they fell. Niall can’t help himself when he leans forward to press a soft kiss against Harry’s lips with a murmured “Love you.”

“Love y’too Ni.” Harry slurs out. “C’n y’untie me?”

“Just give me a minute.” Niall chuckles, reaching up and releasing the knot that kept Harry restrained to the headboard. Undoing Harry’s arms only takes a few minutes, but his torso takes at least ten, and Niall blames that on the way the brunet refuses to be of any help. Niall can’t blame him though, not after all that. Once he finally slips the ropes all off and cleans them, he bundles them up carefully in the meticulous way he’d taught himself with a YouTube tutorial. Harry is rubbed red anywhere that isn’t already purpling, but he doesn’t seem to mind when Niall runs his hand over it. “How are you feeling?”

“Sleepy.” Harry mumbles. “Sleep wiff me?”

“Gotta get you cleaned up first Haz.” Niall reminds him, stepping off the bed towards the en-suite. After he finishes wiping Harry down with a warm, wet flannel, he rolls the brunet onto his side and curls up behind him. “This good?”

“Yeah.” Harry says with a small nod, lacing his fingers through those of the hand Niall drapes over his belly. “C’n we do that ‘gain someday?”

“Only if you’re a good boy.” Niall whispers in his ear.

 

“Oh shit- Jesus bleeding fucking Christ!” Niall lets out in a startled gasp, clutching his hand over where his heart is beating way too hard for having just woken up. “What the fuck Zee?”

“I didn’t do anything.” Zayn shrugs, stirring his spoon around idly in his cup.

“You are literally the last person I expected to see this early.” Niall mutters, shaking his head now that he’s over the initial shock of finding Zayn in the kitchen.

“I had to see the sun rise over the ocean at least once while I was here.” Zayn says with a soft smile, pushing a second mug towards Niall. “Want to come watch it with me? Should be happening in a few minutes.”

“Is it that early?” Niall asks, blinking at the clock above the stove for confirmation.

“It’s like- Ten in the morning back home.” Zayn reminds him. “I’m actually surprised you slept this late. Then again, I guess your sleep would be a little off.”

“Jet lag sucks.” Niall sighs.

“Pretty sure it wasn’t jet lag that was up fucking Harry half the night.” Zayn smirks, stepping out the patio door towards the pool chairs. “Sir.”

“Oh god.” Niall groans, the memory of last night flooding back into him all at once. It had been too dark in the room to see Harry’s markings when Niall made his way out of the bed, so this is the first reminder he’s had really, still to sleepy to have remembered properly. He grabs the coffee Zayn had made him and follows the Bradford lad out. He’s going to need the caffeine.

“So- Is he just super easy to please, or were you hiding the fact that you’re actually a fantastic top for the entire time we dated?” Zayn asks nonchalantly.

“Shut up. You’re the one who never wanted to switch.” Niall grumbles, hiding his embarrassed flush behind his coffee mug. “Was it that loud?”

“I actually considered chaining Louis up to the veranda.” Zayn hums. “It took Luke and Leeyum both just to stop him from running up there to take a peak. I’m pretty sure he was going to have a stroke.”

“Ugh, why in the hell did Haz invite you all?” Niall whines.

“I’m not sure, but I’m glad he did.” Zayn says quietly. “I’m a bit pissed at you though. Hadn’t gotten the chance to say that yet, but I am.”

“Why?” Niall scoffs.

“You didn’t tell me about the engagement.” Zayn pouts. “I know we only just started being friends again, but-”

“Zee, I really did plan on telling you.” Niall cuts him off. “That night-”

“That night nothing Nialler.” Zayn huffs. “You bought the ring before that, but you didn’t tell me you were planning to propose.”

“I wasn’t.” Niall admits. “Not yet. Don’t get me wrong, I want this, but I wasn’t planning on doing it quite yet. I had the ring on me because I thought Hazza might do it that night and I wanted to surprise him with it. If he hadn’t proposed, I wouldn’t have either probably. Do you know what he said when I asked him when he bought the ring?”

“The day after you two met.” Zayn answers.

“How did you know that?” Niall balks.

“Because that seems like him.” Zayn replies with a shrug. “He believes in fate, and he knows that you two are meant to be together forever. He probably knew it from the second he met you.”

“That’s what he said.” Niall chuckles. “He’s such a bloody romantic. Drives me mad.”

“You love it.” Zayn hums. “You always did, even if you wouldn’t admit it.”

“Maybe.” Niall muses, settling back against his chair as the first glow of pink starts to show up on the horizon. “Just don’t know how I ever got so lucky.”

“Budge up.” comes a sleep-laden voice from Niall’s left, and he immediately makes room for Harry on the pool chair. Harry curls up on it, half on top of Niall like the Cheshire Cat he is. 

“How you feeling love?” Niall asks, combing his fingers through his fiancé’s fringe 

“Woke up without you.” Harry mumbles. “Didn’t like that. And I’m sore everywhere.”

“Fuck! No fucking wonder he’s sore!” Zayn hisses, his eyes gone wide. “What the hell did you do to his stomach Nialler? Are- Are those all bite-marks?”

“Had to make sure everyone knows who he belongs to.” Niall smirks. “Didn’t I Love?”

“Shut up.” Harry sighs. “I’m too tired to ride you right now, but if you keep talking like that, then I’m going to do it anyways.”

“Go back to sleep Haz. I’ll stay with you until you wake up again.” Niall murmurs, placing a gentle kiss on his forehead.

“Love you.” Harry says with a sleepy smile.

“Love you too.” Niall returns, holding Harry tight.

 

“Read my lips Horan.” Louis growls, lifting his sunglasses up to rest on his head. “Co-Pa-Ca-Ba-Na!”

“Petropolis.” Niall says defiantly, crossing his arms over his chest because he refuses to budge on this. “If I wanted to spend all my time at a beach, I’d have picked Hawaii or Los Angeles. Do you even know how high the fecal coliform bacteria levels are at that beach? There was one of the biggest parties in the world there just a few nights ago. I’d rather not deal with the leftover needles from the drugs, and the literal shit from people too drunk off their arses to make it to a loo.”

“It’s a beach Niall!” Louis argues. “Stop sucking all the fun out of it! Why would you pick Rio of all places I you didn’t want to go to a beach?”

“Because there’s a fascinating culture with some beautiful historical sites.” Niall huffs.

“I didn’t fly nine thousand kilometers to walk around a bunch of old buildings.” Louis counters.

“And I didn’t-” Niall starts, but Harry cuts him off before he can get nasty and remind Louis that he didn’t invite any of them along. Thank god for Harry. He’s a blessing in skintight jeans.

“Enough.” he says forcefully. “We don’t have to stay as a group of six. You’re all aware of that, right? We can separate into groups for outings if not everyone wants to do the same thing.”

“Fine.” Louis pouts, dropping into a chair. “Who wants to go with Niall to see a bunch of old shite, and who wants to come with me to a beautiful beach with fabulous restaurants and a bunch of hot surfers to watch while we get some truly glorious tans?”

“I’m tan enough already.” Zayn chuckles, stepping over to stand by Niall.

“Actually, I wouldn’t mind seeing if I could catch some waves.” Liam admits sheepishly. “I’ve always wanted to try surfing.”

“Go on then.” Zayn smiles. “And don’t forget your sun cream.”

“Thanks.” Liam giggles, rushing off to their room.

“Luke?” Louis questions.

“Sorry Lou.” Luke shrugs, standing on Niall’s other side. “I’ve seen enough beaches, but it’s not every day you get to see historical sites like this. The guide book I bought said it’s a must see.”

“You little shit.” Louis hisses.

“I’m going with Louis.” Harry announces with a peck on Niall’s cheek. “Sorry, but I’d get bored so fast walking around the historical district.”

“I knew you’d go with him.” Niall laughs. “It’s fine Haz. Just don’t let any water get in your mouth. It really is pretty badly contaminated.”

“I plan on drinking caipirinhas and getting a tan, not going near the water.” Harry grins. “Showing off all the marks you gave me is also a nice bonus.”

“Exhibitionist.” Zayn mutters quietly, drawing a sputtering laugh out of Niall. 

“I heard that.” Harry huffs.

“And yet you didn’t deny it.” Zayn muses.

“Just because it’s rude doesn’t mean it isn’t somewhat true.” Harry shrugs.

“Get out of here and go get ready for the beach.” Niall groans, pushing Harry towards the staircase that Liam had disappeared up only a moment ago. “We’ll probably be gone by the time you get back down here since we don’t all have to change our outfits.”

“We should all meet at the beach when it starts to get dark.” Louis chirps. “The nightlife is the best part of Copacabana.”

“I could go for a bit of clubbing.” Zayn grins.

“It’s been forever since I’ve gone to a club and not had to be the Cheshire Cat.” Harry hums thoughtfully, looking down at Niall. “What do you think?”

“I wouldn’t mind getting to have you to myself in public for once.” Niall agrees.

“Then it’s settled!” Louis laughs, jumping out of his chair and beaming proudly. “I win!”

He dashes outside before Niall can argue, leaving him standing around with a grumpy look on his face until Harry kisses it off.

 

“Luke, pay for these.” Zayn hums, walking away with their drinks, much to Niall’s confusion. “I’ll take it off what you owe me.”

“Why do you owe Zayn money?” Niall asks.

“He won the pool.” Luke grumbles placing a stack of real on the cart and following after Zayn.

“What pool?” Niall questions.

“We bet on who the first actual row would be between.” Luke admits sheepishly. “Zayn bet on you and Louis. I bet on Louis and Harry. Louis bet on you and Zayn. And Liam-” 

“Sweet naïve thing that he is, my boyfriend bet that nobody would fight the entire time.” Zayn laughs, cutting Luke off at the pass and handing them their sodas. “It’s almost sad.”

“Leave him alone.” Niall huffs. “He’s a big ball of happiness, and that’s not a bad thing. It’s sweet that he’s an optimist.”

“You wouldn’t have thought so before you started dating Harry.” Zayn smirks. “You were a realist if I’ve ever met one.”

“I’m still a realist.” Niall mutters. “But people like Liam and Harry and Luke are the ones who keep people like you and me and Louis from becoming bitter and mean.”

“Who said I’m an optimist?” Luke asks.

“You moved across the world as a teenager to start a music career in one of the roughest cities in the world.” Niall points out. “You actually agreed to date Louis Tomlinson after knowing him. You’re an optimist if there ever was one. And for the record, I think that’s a good thing. Being optimistic and being naïve don’t have to go hand in hand. Only cynics think that way.”

“Why’d you say that while looking at me?” Zayn asks with a glare. Luke and Niall just laugh and walk away.

 

“And then- And then we saw the Crystal Palace!” Niall hiccups. “It was so pretty Haz!”

“Love, I’m totally up for it if you want to tell me about what you did today, but how about we either talk or dance, because I can’t really hear you so well out here.” Harry murmurs in his ear.

“But I like feeling you rub against me.” Niall giggles, grinding his bum back into Harry’s bulge just to make his point. “Do you realize this is the first time we’ve ever danced like this?”

“Do you realize that’s the third time you’ve asked that in the last ten minutes?” Harry chuckles. “I think you’re a bit drunk Love.”

“I ate lunch in the same place as Walt Disney did!” Niall beams, ignoring Harry’s comment because yeah, obviously.

“That’s nice Ni.” Harry replies placatingly. “Let’s get you some water, yeah?”

“Or another caipirinha!” Niall giggles, using his smaller size to his advantage to weave his way through the crowd before Harry can catch him and remind him how bad his hangover is going to be. He’s feeling particularly good right now, and Harry will just kill his buzz if he gets all concerned. For such a happy person, he’s a real downer sometimes. Niall makes it to the bar without being caught and orders another drink, but before he can finish asking, someone pulls him aside and cancels it, asking for a bottle of water instead. “Bitch.”

“You know it’s what you need Nialler.” Zayn hums, not at all bothered by Niall’s glare or pout. “You’ll thank me in the morning.”

“I absolutely will not.” Niall huffs. “Nobody lets me have any fun.”

“You’ve had six drinks worth of fun Nialler.” Zayn says with a soft peck to Niall’s forehead. “Just try to slow down a bit.”

“I’m on holiday though.” Niall whines. “I’m supposed to get pissed off my arse.”

“You already have.” Zayn counters.

“I’m only seeing one of you, so obviously there’s some wiggle room here.” Niall grumbles, taking the water from Zayn anyways and guzzling it down. It actually is quite nice, refreshingly cool in the heat of the club, but he’s not going to let Zayn know that. He’s a smug asshole when you let him know he’s right.

“Don’t do that!” Harry groans, popping out from the crowd with a worried look on his face. “Scared the crap out of me disappearing off like that.”

“You were going to stop me from getting another drink.” Niall shrugs.

“Yes I was.” Harry huffs. “I see that Zayn managed to do that for me though.”

“It was very rude. He called me a bitch.” Niall pouts.

“No, you called me a bitch.” Zayn sighs. “He’s completely off his arse. We should probably head back to the house.”

“Louis isn’t going to like that.” Niall giggles. “He’s practically riding Luke out there on the dancefloor. Wait- Where’s Payno?”

“Um- He’s outside getting a cab. We were going to head out ourselves, and then I saw you trying to get another drink.” Zayn admits.

“You were going to leave without telling us?” Niall asks.

“We thought it would be nice to have the house to ourselves for a bit.” Zayn shrugs. “Not everybody needs to hear the two of us going at it like you two were. We’d have texted to let you know where we were.”

“Go on then. We’ll give you a head start while we gather up the other two.” Harry chuckles. “That will probably take at least twenty minutes.”

“You’re a darling.” Zayn grins, pecking Harry on the cheek and running away before Niall can hit him for the transgression.

“Don’t let him kiss you again.” Niall growls, fisting the fingers of his free hand into Harry’s shirt and dragging him into a bruising snog, snaking his tongue into the brunet’s mouth and swallowing the wanton moan that Harry lets out. 

“Pretty sure I saw him kiss your forehead before I got over here.” Harry mumbles against Niall’s lips.

“I won’t let him do it to me again either.” Niall mutters.

“Good.” Harry smirks. “I don’t like being jealous.”

“It’s a habit for us.” Niall shrugs. “You don’t seem to mind when I’m affectionate with Louis.”

“Louis has never been inside of you.” Harry counters, nipping at Niall’s neck. “Louis wasn’t your lover for over a year. He didn’t take your virginity, or get to be the first person you said ‘I love you’ to, or any one of the thousand things about Zayn that make me jealous.”

“I didn’t know you were jealous of him.” Niall replies.

“That’s because I know that he just helped get you to me, so when he’s not kissing you I can suppress it.” Harry grins. “I may be jealous, but if he and Louis hadn’t dragged you out that night, then we might not have met when we did, and I would have had to wait even longer to fall in love with you.”

“We would have met though.” Niall murmurs. “I know that now. It’s fate, the two of us.”

“It’s fate.” Harry echoes, capturing Niall’s lips in a soft kiss.

 

“Get away from me.” Niall whimpers, burying his face as thoroughly as he can into the throw pillow on the couch that he’s decided will be his permanent residence until his head splits open like it’s threatening to do, and he finally dies. “You’re yelling.”

“I’m not actually.” Liam says sympathetically, rubbing his hand over Niall’s back in slow circles. “I take it this one is particularly bad then?”

“Remember that time I threw up into my own jeans while I was putting them on?” Niall asks. “Worse than that.”

“Have you finished vomiting?” Liam questions, his hand stilling on Niall’s back like he might need to be ready to jump away at any moment.

“Yes.” Niall sighs. “But- I- I kind of-”

“He threw up on Harry.” Zayn finishes for him, sitting down beside Liam with what smells like coffee.

“He what?” Liam squawks.

“Shut the fuck up!” Niall hisses, blindly reaching out in a weak (and unsuccessful) attempt to smack Liam for making his head throb.

“Sorry.” Liam whispers. At least he has the decency to actually sound repentant. “What happened?”

“He was helping me shower, and I threw up, and it kind of- Splattered- Onto his legs.” Niall explains. “He hates me.”

“He doesn’t hate you.” Zayn chuckles. “He’s probably not too happy with you, but he doesn’t hate you. Even when he passed you off to me so he could scrub himself clean some more he had that annoying fond look on his face.”

“He hates me.” Niall repeats adamantly. “He brought me across the world on a beautiful holiday, and I thanked him by throwing up on him.”

“I don’t hate you Love.” comes a soft voice from above him. “I could never hate you. But if we could never mention that incident again, that would be brilliant. I want to forget all about it.”

“Never let Louis find out then.” Zayn snickers. “He’ll never let it go.”

“Remember when you were all terrified of me?” Harry sighs. “I liked that better sometimes.”

“That was before we all knew you were softer than a big ball of fluffy kittens.” Zayn snorts. “Your reputation is not at all deserved.”

“It’s more well deserved than you know.” Harry scoffs. “I do things differently than my predecessors, true, but the previous Cheshire Cat wouldn’t have given me the position if I couldn’t handle all that it entails. It’s my duty to safeguard an organization dating back over a century and a half. There’s a lot of other criminal organizations that would like nothing more than to destroy the club, and it’s a big part of my job to remind them why we’re still standing after this long. I’m not violent, but that doesn’t mean I play nice.”

“Don’t listen to him.” Niall mumbles. “He’s just trying to sound hardcore so that you two won’t tell the others about the incident. He really is as soft as you think.”

“Niall!” Harry whines, making Niall wince at the pitch. “You can’t tell them that, or they won’t respect me.”

“You mean they won’t fear you.” Niall counters, resigning himself to sitting up because apparently nobody is going to leave him alone to die like he wants. “But they were never going to fear you again after they heard me fuck your brains out the other night while you called me Sir. That took your intimidation factor down to practically nothing Babe.”

“Oh god.” Harry groans, giving a small shiver. “Don’t call me that right now. I don’t care if you’re hungover, and there’s an audience, I will suck you off.”

“Insatiable.” Zayn mutters, passing Niall his coffee.

“I don’t want to hear it from you. We could hear the two of you going at it from outside the bloody house when we got back last night.” Niall snaps. “We all have healthy fucking sexual appetites. It’s to be expected.”

“Relax Love.” Harry says gently, taking a seat next to Niall and pulling him into a cuddle. “Zayn was just teasing.”

“I know.” Niall sighs. “Sorry Zee.”

“It’s fine. I know what you’re like when you’re hungover.” Zayn smiles. “Dealt with it more times than I can count.”

“I get it, I’m a mess. Leave me alone.” Niall grumbles.

“Alright. I was going out to the pool anyways. I just wanted to drop that off for you.” Zayn hums, standing up and walking away with Liam in tow. “Let me know if you need anything else, yeah?”

“I’ll take over on Niall-duty, thanks.” Harry tells him, tightening his grip on Niall just a little bit. “You just enjoy the pool and the sun.”

“Jealous again Haz?” Niall asks once Zayn and Liam leave.

“I don’t like him feeling like he’s the one who takes care of you still.” Harry huffs, nuzzling into Niall’s neck. “That’s my job now.”

“You literally passed me off to him this morning so he’d take care of me while you took another shower because you felt, and I’m quoting here, ‘like I’ll never be clean again unless I remove the top three layers of skin and hair on my legs.’”

“Still.” Harry pouts.

“I’m sorry I razzed on you.” Niall mumbles, his face flushing in embarrassment.

“I’m sorry I turned it into such a big deal.” Harry sighs. “You already felt bad, and I’m sure that didn’t help.”

“Not really, but I can understand.” Niall shrugs. “I’d have probably done the same thing if our positions had been switched.”

“You’re not going to be much of a doctor if you can’t handle a little vomit.” Harry chuckles.

“You’re probably right.” Niall mutters. 

“Hey, that’s not what I meant.” Harry says gently. “You’re going to be a brilliant doctor. I know it. I told you that night that we first got to know each other, as long as you believe in yourself, you’ll accomplish amazing things. I know it’s true, so stop doubting yourself.”

“Why do you believe in me so much?” Niall asks quietly.

“Because I see the things in you that you can’t see for yourself.” Harry tells him, a firm edge to his voice telling Niall that it’s not up for debate. “You’ve never understood just how extraordinary you could be. You’ve never seen just how amazing you are. That’s okay though, because I can be your eyes until you do.”

“You say the soppiest shit.” Niall mumbles, ducking his face into Harry’s neck so that the brunet can’t see the tears welling up in the corners of Niall’s eyes from the sweetness of the words. “Stop it.”

“Never.” Harry tells him, and Niall prays that it’s a promise he’ll keep.

 

“I can’t believe this trip is almost over already.” Niall sighs. Water laps at his left side, alerting him to Zayn moving away. He only hears the sound of feet slapping against concrete once it’s too late, and the ensuing miniature tidal-wave (accompanied by Louis’ trademark evil giggling) manages to capsize him off of his float. He surfaces furiously, glaring at Louis and growls out “It’s fucking all the way over for you. I’m going to toss you off the balcony. Stop fucking doing that every time I’m in the pool!”

“Relax Ni.” Louis smirks. “I was just doing my best to keep you from getting all mopey. We still have almost three days left here in paradise. Enjoy it without worrying about when it’s going to end.”

“Easy for you to say.” Niall mutters, struggling to get his float back the right way and climb on. He eventually manages when Zayn steadies it for him, a sheepish grin on his face after not warning Niall about the cannon-ball. “You’ve been all over the place. This is my first ever real holiday, and I spent a full day lying around being miserable and hungover. Time is ticking away, and soon I’ll be back home with nothing to do until school starts back-”

He’s interrupted by a splash of water to the face, and what may well be Louis’ smuggest look ever. “I said to stop it.” he hums. “Do you know what makes time pass by even quicker? Worrying about the inevitable. We may only have three days left until we’re back home, including today, but that doesn’t mean you should sit there and whinge about it. What good does that actually do you?”

“None.” Niall admits reluctantly. “I just-”

Again water hits him in the face, and again Louis looks perfectly content and unafraid of the very real possibility that Niall is going to murder him. “No more talking about it.” Louis says firmly. “This is the first time it’s been just The Magnificent Trio in ages, and I’m not letting you ruin my mood.”

“The magnificent trio?” Zayn snorts.

“Yes Zayn, the Magnificent Trio.” Louis huffs. 

“Since when do we call ourselves the magnificent trio?” Zayn asks.

“You aren’t saying it right!” Louis whines, smacking his fists childishly against the surface of the water. “It needs to be bigger. Grandiose! The Magnificent Trio! It would be capitalized and everything.”

“I think the sun has fried his brain.” Zayn stage-whispers to Niall, making the blond giggle.

“Shut up Malik.” Louis grumbles. “I’m just saying- Ever since we all got boyfriends, we haven’t really spent any time together just the three of us. Especially since the two of you didn’t talk for almost three months. I missed this. Payno, and Luke, and even Harold are great, but the three of us- It’s- It’s the second most important relationship in my life, okay?”

“Aww!” Niall coos, launching himself off of his float to wrap a hug around Louis’ shoulders. “You’re so cute Tommo! It is for me too.”

“We’ll make more effort to spend time with just the three of us every once in a while from now on.” Zayn smiles. “I love Leeyum, I really do, but I do miss it being the three of us sometimes.”

“Getting fucked up in your dorm room.” Louis grins. “You always did have the best stuff.”

“Oh god, you really did.” Niall agrees. “Remember that time-”

“When you thought your hands had grown three times their usual size?” Zayn finishes for him.

“And you kept trying to spank all of my arse at once, but you couldn’t figure out why it was only leaving a handprint on one cheek?” Louis giggles.

“I laughed so hard I cried.” Zayn cackles. “You had the best look on your face the whole time.”

“I was confused!” Niall groans.

“You know-” Zayn hums, leaving the implication without actually saying it out loud.

“No!” Louis gasps. “When?” 

“The day you guys went to the beach.” Zayn smirks. “Niall was trying his best to get directions with his secondary school Spanish, and a guy walked up and asked me if I wanted to buy some.”

“That’s how you knew the way to the Castelo de Itaipava!” Niall hisses accusingly.

“Yup.” Zayn nods, popping the p. “So, you two wanna?”

“We should wait for the boys.” Niall sighs.

“Let them catch up later.” Louis laughs, pushing out of Niall’s arms and climbing out of the side of the pool. He takes off at a run, ignoring the fact that he’s dripping everywhere and is more than likely to bust his ass falling, and calls over his shoulder “Last one there has to roll!”

 

“How far gone are you?” Harry asks with a fond roll of the eyes, watching Luke and Liam carry their respective boyfriends upstairs, a pair of matching, giggling messes. At least Niall thinks it’s fond. He isn’t getting that cute grumpy face that he gets when he’s actually upset.

“Only had two hits. Those two are bloody selfish when it comes to a spliff.” Niall shrugs. It’s got him feeling pretty good, but his body parts are all definitely their normal size. Harry kind of has a halo, but Niall thinks that’s probably a trick of the light.

“I go grocery shopping for an hour, and you three end up like this.” Harry chuckles. “I didn’t even know you smoked.”

“I don’t.” Niall mumbles, crawling onto the couch and Harry’s lap. “Not anymore. Never even used to really. Just when those two were relentless about it. I’m twenty three though Haz. I’ve crossed paths with tetrahydrocannabinol before.”

“You’re remarkably well spoken for someone whose pupils are so dilated I can barely see his irises.” Harry giggles.

“Weed makes me calm, not stupid.” Niall huffs, twisting around until he’s straddled over Harry’s lap. “Also makes me horny. You should probably fuck me now.”

“Niall-” Harry starts, but the blond isn’t having it. He isn’t going to give Harry the chance to try and talk him out of it just because he isn’t stone cold sober. He crushes his lips against Harry’s, grinding down in his lap because he wants this, and he wants it now. Harry tastes sweet, almost fruity, and Niall moans at it, tries to snake his tongue further into Harry’s mouth and lick the taste away. Niall likes it, but he wants Harry to taste like him instead.

He catches Harry’s bottom lips between his teeth, flicking his tongue over the plumped pinkness of it, then releases it in favor of working his way over Harry’s jaw. “It wasn’t a suggestion Haz.” Niall murmurs between the open-mouthed kisses he’s streaking across Harry’s pulse point.

“Anyone could walk in on us.” Harry sighs.

“Let them. Who fucking cares Haz?” Niall asks, moving his hands down to untuck Harry’s shirt and splaying his palms over the warm, tanned expanse underneath. “Everybody in this house has seen me naked at one point or another. Payno is the only one who hasn’t seen you naked after yesterday when you handed me off to Zayn. Luke’s even seen us shagging before. I seem to recall that you didn’t have a problem with the possibility of someone seeing us then.”

“I was overcome with my competitive urges.” Harry points out.

“Haz!” Niall groans, gripping the sides of Harry’s face to lock their eyes. “Will you please just fuck me already? Nobody is going to see us, and it wouldn’t matter if they did.”

“I don’t want to take advantage when you’re inebriated.” Harry mumbles. He probably meant to say that a bit more clearly, but his cheeks are slightly squished by Niall’s palms, so the blond ignores that.

“I’m not that stoned Haz.” Niall tells him. “I know what I want. It’s not taking advantage of me. Do you need me to prove that I’m sober enough to make this decision?”

“Yes.” Harry nods.

“I can recite every bone in the human body in alphabetical order for you then.” Niall sighs, annoyed that he has to use his time doing that rather than enjoying his high and having Harry inside him. “Calcaneus, capitate, clavicle, cuboid, cuneiform, femur-”

“I get the point.” Harry chuckles before capturing lips in another kiss. His hands wander up Niall’s back, his fingers cool in contrast to the skin that’ll probably be a dull, burning red tomorrow. That’s just an excuse to have Harry rub him down with aloe though, and Niall hums at the prospect. Harry has great hands. “We can do it.”

“Thank fucking god.” Niall growls, grabbing the strap of the bag Harry had taken with him. He always keeps lube in it now, and after a minute of fishing around, Harry’s mouth on his neck making his mind go a bit fuzzy, he finds that today is no exception. It’s not much, just a tablespoon or so in a little plastic pouch sort of thing. Niall can’t remember the word right now. It’s a container. A lube container. That’s all that really matters. “How are you feeling right now?”

“Horny.” Harry scoffs, crinkling his eyebrows in that annoyingly cute mask of confusion he gets.

“No- I mean, how is your body?” Niall asks. “Are you feeling one hundred percent? Your stomach isn’t giving you any problems with the bruising or anything?”

“Not really.” Harry nods. “Why?”

“I was thinking we’d do one of the positions you sent me on Christmas.” Niall muses.

“Oh really?” Harry asks, his eyebrow arching just a bit in surprise. “Have one in mind”

“Can’t stop thinking about you holding me up in your arms against a wall while you fuck me.” Niall whispers in his ear. “Think you can do that for me Haz?”

“I’ve been lifting weights every day just hoping you’d ask for that.” Harry admits.

“I thought your arms had been looking better.” Niall hums, running his hand appreciatively over the brunet’s bicep. “Well, what are we waiting for?”

“Gotta open you up first love.” Harry murmurs, wrapping his hands around Niall’s back and pivoting until Niall is on his back underneath the brunet. “You haven’t had me inside you since the first day we got here, which means you’ll be nice and tight again.”

“Good.” Niall smirks, lifting up his hips to help when Harry tries to slide his trunks off. “I like being tight for you. I like feeling how big you are inside me, stretching me until I can barely think of anything except your cock.”

“Jesus.” Harry groans, his still-clothed hips rutting against Niall’s naked, hard prick. It feels amazing, and Niall lets out a loud moan of approval. “Don’t say things like that Love. Gets me too riled up to do things properly. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You won’t.” Niall smirks. “You’re gentle with me no matter how excited you get. Except that time after the airport. That wasn’t gentle, and I loved it.”

“I’m not gentle with you.” Harry mutters, biting into the meat of Niall thigh as if to prove his point. He probably didn’t expect the filthy, shameless moan that Niall lets out at the sensation, but he rolls with it pretty well, scraping his teeth over the already purpling skin. “I’m careful with you. There’s a difference. You wouldn’t be able to walk for a while if I wasn’t careful.”

“Oh god, I’d like that.” Niall slurs out, his mind quickly becoming overtaken with the way Harry’s teeth are playing over his skin. “You should do that. You should definitely do that.”

“Should I now?” Harry hums, leaning down and licking a slow, steady stripe up Niall’s cock.

“Christ!” Niall breathes out, bucking at the contact until Harry places his hands firmly on the blond’s legs just so he can keep repeating the process. “Don’t- Don’t do that right now. Just fuck me Haz. I’m on a hair trigger. I’m already halfway there just from how I’ve been thinking about this for so long.”

“How long have you been thinking about it?” Harry asks, sitting back and hooking Niall’s calves over his shoulders. He tears open the small packet of lube, drizzling about half of it over his fingers before setting it carefully aside for later.

“Since that first drag.” Niall admits at the first press of Harry’s finger. It slips in easily, Niall’s entire body apparently wanting this as much as his mind. It could also be that the weed is relaxing everything to the point where Niall’s body isn’t resisting the intrusion on instinct. Whatever it is, it’s a blessing. “It’s like an instantaneous thing for me. Take a hit, pop a stiff one. I kind of forgot that until after I started though. Probably wouldn’t have done it if I’d remembered.”

“You waited for me, yeah?” Harry asks, slipping a second finger in along with the first since Niall is loose enough for it. He feels that one more, the actual feeling of being stretched open that he’s used to starting to filter in through all the other sensations. It’s marvelous. “Didn’t do anything with the others?”

“Course not.” Niall scoffs. “I could have had both of them at once and the sex wouldn’t be half as good as it is with you. You’ve spoiled me for other men Harry Styles.”

“Good.” Harry smirks, curling his fingers and making Niall arc off of the leather. “Then you’ll never want anyone else.”

“Can’t even imagine it.” Niall mumbles, working himself up and down on the digits sheathed inside of him. “I couldn’t ever want anyone else anymore. Wouldn’t have bought the ring otherwise. You’re it for me Haz. You’re my fate.”

“Is this just the weed making you soppy?” Harry asks, scissoring his fingers apart and stretching Niall beautifully.

“Just makes me feel less stupid saying it.” Niall chokes out around a recklessly loud moan. He doesn’t care if anyone walks in on them, it’s not going to stop him from shagging with Harry, but he also doesn’t want to just invite an audience down for a show.

“You’re so Irish sometimes.” Harry snorts. “You’re allowed to say the soppy shit with me you know. I even like it.”

“Haz!” Niall groans. “Focus please! Talking can happen later. Shagging should happen now.”

“Just a little bit longer love.” Harry chuckles. “I have to make sure you’re completely ready to take me. Once I’ve got you up in my arms, I don’t know just how long I’ll be able to hold you and fuck into you at the same time, so we may not have the time to let you adjust as much as usual. It’s kind of a good thing you’re on a hair trigger right now actually.”

“Go to three.” Niall whimpers. Two just isn’t doing it for him anymore. It’s not nearly enough compared to what he wants. He doesn’t care if it comes across as grouchy, or needy, or fucking desperate as hell. All he cares about is that Harry doesn’t protest, immediately pushing a third finger in like Niall requested, giving him just a few seconds to relish it before working him open even more. “Fu-u-u-u-ck yes!”

“You like that Love?” Harry asks, spreading his free hand over Niall’s stomach and running it up to one of the blond’s nipples.

“Yeah.” Niall breathes out between panting moans. Harry scratches his fingernail over Niall’s nipple, expertly walking that line between pleasure and pain, and Niall’s spine tingles electrically. His whole body feels like it’s floating, and he isn’t sure anymore if that’s the weed or Harry. Maybe it’s some combination of both of them. He doesn’t really care so much why. All that matters is that it’s happening, and it feels bloody great. “Love it Haz. Love having any part of you inside me. Makes me- Makes me feel like I’m more than just- Just me.”

“I’m definitely not opposed to you smoking anymore if it gets you to say things like this.” Harry murmurs, leaning forward to capture Niall’s lips in a soft kiss that leaves the blond breathless. “Not if you mean it.”

“I do.” Niall admits. “Don’t think I’ll be smoking again for a while though. Can’t let your head get too big by constantly confessing all that kind of stuff to you. You’re so smug that it’s annoying enough as it is sometimes.”

“You give with one hand, and take with the other.” Harry sighs, leaning back away from Niall, much to the blond’s dissatisfaction.

“Only to keep you humble.” Niall replies. “If you knew everything I think about you, you’d be arrogant as all- Fuck!”

Harry looks up at him, smugness practically dripping from his eyes as he sinks his lips even further down Niall’s cock. He teases Niall with his tongue, flirting dangerously with the blond’s self-control, taking Niall almost to the brink with his fingers and mouth, and then pulls off as suddenly as he had started. “Quit insulting me when I’m getting you off Love.” Harry says flatly. “Or I’ll leave you to take care of yourself.”

“Love you.” Niall hums. “You know I’m just teasing you.”

“Well stop it.” Harry huffs. “It’s not very nice considering what I’m trying to do for you here.”

“Then we should probably move on to the part where you’re getting as much out of it as I am.” Niall smirks. “Don’t you think?”

“I would definitely not mind moving on.” Harry grins. “Are you sure you’re ready?”

“Absolutely.” Niall nods. Harry retracts his fingers, leaving Niall feeling a bit empty. He quickly forgets that though once Harry strips his shirt over his head, his light tan having developed to a mouthwatering bronze. It looks marvelous on him, magnifying every contour of his musculature even more than usual. He looks like the Greek god of stupid tattoos and beauty. And he’s all Niall’s. He stands up to undo his jeans, but Niall sits up and stops his hands. “Let me.”

“Yeah, alright.” Harry says, his hands dropping onto Niall’s shoulders instead. Niall’s fingers ease open the zip, shucking the tight fabric down Harry’s thighs until he steps out of them. The tight boxer-briefs come next, giving Niall full access to exactly what he’s been waiting for. The pants haven’t even hit the ground before the head of Harry’s cock is pressing against the back of Niall’s throat. Harry’s fingernails bite into the sensitive skin of Niall’s shoulders and he growls out “Fuck yeah. Just like that Ni. So bloody good at that Love.”

Niall hums around him, flexing the muscles to tighten around his head while his tongue works over Harry’s shaft. He can’t keep this up for long, but it’s one of Harry’s favorite things. It always gets him close quickly, and he’s right about the possibility that things will have to go a bit quickly once they get started. He pulls off slowly, locking eyes with Harry so that he knows the brunet is watching every inch of himself slide out from between Niall’s stretched lips. Niall licks over his lips once he’s off, the slick saltiness of Harry’s precum an all too familiar tang on his tongue, and he asks “Gonna fuck me now?”

“Yes.” Harry nods, moving his hands from on top of Niall’s shoulders to underneath his armpits. Niall doesn’t even have time to ask what the fuck Harry thinks he’s doing before he’s lifted into the air. He reacts instinctively, wrapping his arms and legs around Harry’s neck and back respectively while Harry’s hands move down to hold him up by the bum. It’s awkward at first, Niall taking a moment to trust Harry to be able to do this. Harry reaches back for the lube on the table before taking a few steps forward, pinning Niall between him and the wall. “Hold on tight, yeah?”

“Yeah.” Niall breathes out, slightly tightening the grip he has on Harry’s shoulders while one of the brunet’s hands leaves its position on Niall’s arse. He doesn’t worry though. The wall is steady behind him, and Harry is strong. Niall isn’t going to fall. He knows it. It’s not a question anymore. Harry won’t let him fall.

“Alright Love, I’m going to push in a little, then we’ll slide you down just a bit, okay?” Harry explains, the sound of his hand slicking him up echoing off the insides of Niall’s skull.

“I trust you.” Niall murmurs, leaning forward to crash their lips together once Harry’s head probes at his entrance. Niall can feel the tension in Harry’s body, the toll it’s taking to do all of this so slowly and carefully. He also feels something release in Harry’s shoulders at Niall’s words, and he knows he’s said the right thing.

It takes some maneuvering, but they get there eventually. Harry is mostly inside him, giving himself just enough room to fuck up into Niall once the blond gives his nod of approval. Harry’s arms are locked under Niall’s knees, twisting up to grip the top of his thighs. From the first thrust it’s clear to Niall that this isn’t going to last long. Harry is pressed right against his prostate, and every movement grates his cock against Harry’s sweat slick abs.

“Jesus!” Niall gasps once Harry finds a rhythm, drilling up into Niall relentlessly so hard and fast it pushes the air from his lungs. “God! Fuck- Haz!”

“Feel so good Love.” Harry slurs out, mouthing at Niall’s neck as he fucks into him. “So bloody tight for me.”

“Haz, ‘m so close.” Niall whimpers, doing what little he can to ride back down onto Harry as that tight, familiar heat starts to build. “Haz-”

“Do it.” Harry growls. “Cum for me Ni.”’

“Fuck!” Niall sobs, his whole body clenching when his orgasm lets itself go. His nails dig into the back of Harry’s neck and he turns his head to capture Harry’s lips against his own.

Harry’s body goes still, his fingers gripping harshly into the meat of Niall’s thighs as he buries himself all the way inside, moaning heavily into Niall’s mouth. “God, I love you so much.” Harry murmurs over his lips.

“I love you more.” Niall tells him, winding his fingers into Harry’s long tresses.

“Not possible.” Harry chuckles.

“I- Um- You- I-” comes a familiar, stammering voice from somewhere over to the side of them. Liam is bright red, his eyes wide at the scene in front of him as he tries to get a handle on whatever he was trying to say. He never gets the chance though.

“Payno, what the hell is taking you so long to- Oh!” Louis giggles once he walks through the doorway Liam is standing in. “Hey guys.”

“Son of a bitch.” Harry groans, shoving his flushed face into Niall’s neck to block anyone from seeing it.

“Hi Tommo.” Niall laughs. “Looking for us?”

“Yup.” Louis nods. “Get yourselves cleaned up and meet us in the telly room. We’re going to play a game.”

“Be there in a mo.” Niall grins.

 

“I think you traumatized him.” Zayn whispers in Niall’s ear.

“Shut up!” Liam hisses. “We all agreed not to talk about it!”

“No, you decided we weren’t going to talk about it.” Louis returns, leaning forward with a self-assured smirk. “None of us agreed except Harold, and since he’s the subject of the gossip he doesn’t get a say.”

“Have I mentioned that you’re my least favorite?” Harry grumbles, tossing one of the throw pillows directly at Louis’ face. He moves well for being stoned, dodging back like he’s from The Matrix and letting it smack Luke instead. Harry grimaces and sheepishly says “Sorry Luke.”

“’S fine.” Luke hums, his eyelids drooping like he’s perfectly content as is, sitting on the floor with his head lain back against Louis’ knee. Niall has a feeling that Louis smoked him out once the lads got back and they all went their separate ways. He clutches the pillow to his chest and nuzzles back between Louis’ legs. “’S all good.”

“He’s obliterated.” Niall giggles.

“First time.” Louis beams, ruffling his fingers through his boyfriend’s hair. “My Punk Rock Prince has been avoiding it. Can you believe that?”

“’S a cliché.” Luke says with a shrug. “I c’n see why now though. ‘S very relaxing.”

“We were supposed to be doing something.” Liam huffs. “You dragged us all down here for a reason Louis. What was it?”

“Truth or dare!” Louis yips excitedly, a proud grin on his face like he didn’t just suggest a game for preteens at their first boy-girl party rather than a group of six actual, grown ass adults.

“You’re kidding me.” Niall scoffs.

“No, that sounds fun.” Harry says gleefully. Niall turns to give him an incredulous look, but Harry looks so damn happy with the idea and it hits Niall why. Harry was seventeen when he was kicked out. Instead of going to parties and doing this, he was fighting other homeless people for little bits of money to try and sleep in a motel for a night. He was forced to mature before he was ready, and he has to keep up the Cheshire Cat façade when he’s with clients. Truth or dare may sound stupid and juvenile to Niall, but to Harry it’s a way to get something back that was taken from him, even if it’s just a piece.

“Alright, I’m in.” Niall adds, ignoring the curious look Zayn aims at him. 

“Excellent!” Louis giggles. “It’s settled then.”

“I don’t remember saying that I’m in.” Zayn replies.

“Well I am.” Luke supplies with a happy smile.

“Majority fucking rules Zayn.” Louis smirks. “If you and Payno don’t want to play, you’re welcome to go off by yourselves.”

“No, I’ll play.” Liam agrees.

“Oh my god, fine.” Zayn huffs. “I’ll play your stupid game. I go first though.”

“That’s fine.” Louis nods, a mischievous glint already building in his eyes.

“Harry.” Zayn says immediately.

“Guess I should probably start bold. Let’s go dare.” Harry hums.

“Show us a hidden talent.” Zayn instructs.

“Oh! I’ve got the perfect thing!” Harry beams, crawling away from Niall with a peck to the blond’s cheek, and scampering off down to the kitchen. He reemerges a minute later with three plums in his hands.

“Can you fit all of those in your mouth or something?” Louis snorts.

“Probably, but that’s not what I’m doing.” Harry grins, taking a wide stance. Then he starts fucking juggling, and what? Since when can Harry do anything that requires that amount of coordination? Niall is awestruck. Harry makes it for almost a full minute, soaking in the delighted laughter and applause from his audience, and then one of his tosses goes tight and comes back down directly on his face.

The room bursts into laughter except for Niall, who just gives Harry a cuddle when the brunet sits back down pouting. “That was great Haz.” he murmurs, pressing his lips to his fiancé’s cheek. “You never told me you could do that.” 

“A man must have his secrets.” Harry hums. “You’re the one that said that, remember?”

“First time we met.” Niall nods. “It’s when you asked who I was. I traded you my name, and you kissed me.”

“Oi, lovebirds!” Louis grumbles. “It’s Harry’s turn to pick.”

“Oh- Um- Louis then.” Harry shrugs.

“Can’t let a kitty cat show me up.” Louis grins wickedly. “Give me a dare.”

“You have to put your hand on Zayn’s face, and you can’t move it for the next three rounds.” Harry smirks.

“How the hell did I get mixed up in- Stop it!” Zayn growls, glaring at Louis who’s crawled across the floor to splay his hand over the darker lad’s face.

“Can’t. It’s my dare.” Louis cackles, rubbing his hand around despite the way Zayn is valiantly attempting to burn a hole through it with his eyes. “Ni, your turn.”

“Truth please.” Niall requests, far too comfy to have to move in any way.

“How many of the people in this room have you wanked to?” Louis asks.

“Um- Three.” Niall admits.

“What?” comes a collective squawk from almost everyone. Luke is the only one who seems content with his answer. “Who?”

“I only have to answer one question.” Niall counters. “Luke, you’re up.”

“Guess I should go dare.” Luke chuckles. “Go ahead.”

“Sit on top of Zee until Louis has to stop touching his face.” Niall giggles.

“I’m going to get all of you back for this.” Zayn threatens, only to lose all semblance of his intimidating façade when Luke drops down on top of him. Luke does it gently, but he’s still quite a bit larger than Zayn.

“Zayn, your turn again.” Luke smiles down at him.

“Can’t bloody well do a dare with you two all over me, can I?” Zayn huffs. “Truth.”

“What do you think your best physical attribute is?” Luke asks.

“Does my entire face count?” Zayn smirks.

“No.” Luke giggles.

“Then I’d have to go with my tattoos.” Zayn shrugs. “It’s been three rounds. Both of you get off of me now.”

“But I’m comfy.” Luke pouts.

“I am going to make you very uncomfortable in a minute.” Zayn grits out.

“And I thought you were the grumpy one.” Harry chuckles quietly to Niall.

“No, that’s definitely Zee. I’m like sunshine compared to him.” Niall snickers.

“Harry.” Zayn cuts in.

“Truth.” Harry chooses.

“What was the last lie you told?” Zayn asks him.

“I didn’t tell Niall about you four coming out. Does a lie of omission count?” Harry questions.

“I guess.” Zayn shrugs.

“Niall, who are the three?” Harry asks.

“I pick dare.” Niall huffs.

“I dare you to tell us who the three are.” Harry counters.

“That is not how this game works.” Niall grumbles. “Back me up here guys.”

“I’m fairly certain that everyone in this room wants to know the answer, so I think we’re going to let it slide.” Louis grins. There’s a bunch of nods of agreement from everyone else, and Niall hates them all.

“Fine. Obviously there’s Haz and Zee.” Niall tells them. “And the other one was- it was Payno.”

Liam blushes a bright red, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly while he averts his eyes so that nobody can meet them. Zayn and Louis giggle while Harry glares at Liam, wrapping his hand just a little tighter around Niall’s waist. “Louis.” Niall sighs. “Truth or dare.”

“Let’s go truth this time.” Louis says thoughtfully.

Niall is going to get him back for making him answer that last question. “Where did your mum send you instead of Disney?”

“You little shit!” Louis screeches.

“Turnabout is fair play.” Niall smirks. “Go on then. Tell the class.”

“She sent me to a bloody fat-farm because I was half the size of our house.” Louis growls. “Payno. Nobody has had a go at you yet. Truth or dare?”

“Truth.” Liam shrugs.

“How long did you watch Harold fuck our Nialler before you said something?” Louis asks.

“Um- Like- A couple minutes I guess.” Liam admits sheepishly. “I was in shock though. It’s not just because I’m a pervert. I mean- Shit- It was- I-”

“You don’t have to say anything else Leeyum. You answered the question.” Zayn grumbles.

“Harry?” Liam chooses, though it sounds more like a request than it probably should.

“Dare.” Harry picks.

“Shit. I’m terrible at this.” Liam groans. Louis leans over and whispers something in his ear, and Liam looks appalled. He shakes his head furiously, but Louis must offer something else, because he nods slightly afterwards. “Louis is going to take this one.”

“I’ll be back.” Louis giggles, stumbling to his feet and dashing out of the room down to the kitchen. He returns with an entire tray of ice and says “Pull out the collar of your shirt.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Harry huffs. He does as he’s told though, allowing Louis to dump the entire contents of the tray down his shirt.

“You have to keep them there until they all melt.” Louis beams.

“Fucker.” Harry growls. “Louis.”

“Dare again.” Louis smirks.

“Lick both of your own feet.” Harry orders. He’s stone-faced and stoic, not letting the slightest bit of discomfort show on his face from the ice that must be almost painful by now.

“Oh gross!” Niall gags. “His feet are rank.”

“Eh.” Louis shrugs, twisting his leg around and running his tongue flat over it. He repeats the process with the other one and then adds “It’s going to take a lot more than that to take me down Pussy Cat. I’m the king of this game. Luke.”

“Let’s go truth this time.” Luke hums. “I don’t want to move again.”

“Does it bother you that Louis used to be huge?” Niall blurts out. Louis turns on him with a searing glare that then transforms into something more thoughtful. He gives a slight nod, indicating to Luke that the question is acceptable.

“Not at all.” Luke smiles. “He could get bigger than he was before and I wouldn’t mind. I love him.”

“Aww!” Harry coos alongside Louis and Niall.

“Liam, truth or dare?” Luke asks.

“Truth.” Liam sighs.

“Have you ever bottomed?” Luke asks curiously.

“Of course.” Liam nods. “I generally bottomed before Zayn and I got together actually.”

“Really?” Louis questions, his eyes gone wide in surprise.

“Yup.” Liam shrugs. “Why is that so surprising?”

“You just look like such a top.” Louis huffs. “Ruined every dirty thought I’ve ever had about you.”

“You can enjoy both sides of the coin you know.” Harry chuckles.

“Oh we all know you do Pussy Cat.” Louis snorts. “Liam, go ahead and pick someone.”

“Zayn.” Liam says.

“Truth.” Zayn decides after a minute.

“Do- Do you want to switch it up sometimes?” Liam asks timidly.

“I wouldn’t mind.” Zayn shrugs. “But I like our sex life, so I won’t complain if we keep our roles the way they are all the time. Harry.”

Niall is starting to get a little annoyed with the way Zayn seems to be targeting Harry, using the excuse of the game to pull information out of him specifically. Harry doesn’t seem to mind though. In fact, judging by the smirk on his face, he’s actually enjoying the way Zayn is trying to get under his skin. “Truth.” he replies confidently. “Still got some ice left in my shirt, so I don’t fancy doing anything while trying to keep it all in there.”

“Have you ever slept with a client?” Zayn asks him.

“Never a full-member. But I have had sex with several potential members, when they needed to be convinced of our services and I was still in acquisitions.” Harry tells him calmly. “I also gave them samples of our other services. It came with the job.”

Zayn grunts in response, nodding his head for Harry to take his turn. Niall interrupts it though, standing up and saying “Need a minute. You guys go on without me.”

He walks out without waiting for a response, his legs shaky at best because he still hasn’t quite recovered from the shag before this. He flops down on one of the pool chairs, reveling in the fresh air that he’ll miss back in London. Rio smells like sea-salt and adventure and possibility. It smells like possibility. Maybe the lingering remnants of weed are making Niall sentimental. Or maybe it’s this bright swathe of gold over his finger that binds him to Harry. Maybe this is just how he thinks when he’s not so embarrassed to let himself hope for something. It doesn’t matter. Not really.

“Hey.” comes a soft voice, taking claim of the side of the chair that Niall isn’t using.

“I’m surprised it’s you they sent after me.” Niall hums.

“They didn’t.” Luke chuckles. “Everything kind of went to shit when you left. Zayn and Harry are just challenging each other to truths now. Louis is watching them bicker like it’s a reality show, and Liam is trying to stop it. They were bringing me down, so I decided to come out here with you instead.”

“I had a feeling it would come to this.” Niall admits, dropping his sunglasses down to cover his eyes. “I think I’m going to just let them fight it out. It’s better to let them handle it their own way.”

“I think so too.” Luke nods. “Let them get it all out there in the open. You can’t be expected to have to be the bridge between them. They have to get along on their own.”

“I’m glad someone gets it.” Niall replies, though it’s more to himself than Luke at this point.

 

“Can we talk?” Zayn asks, his eyes pointed towards his feet when he finds Niall and Harry curled up on the deck, Niall pointing out all the constellations and telling Harry the stories behind the ones he knows.

“I’ll give you two a minute.” Harry sighs, moving to get up.

“Not Niall and I. You and I.” Zayn says quietly.

“Oh- I mean- Sure?” Harry answers, his eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

“Go ahead, but if you two fight again, I’m throwing you both off of this balcony.” Niall tells them, standing up and heading inside.

Niall likes to think he’s a good person, but he’s not so good of a person that he doesn’t plan on listening to this. He slides the door until it’s almost closed, and then takes a seat on the ground behind the wall so that neither of them can see him. He’s not proud of himself for it, but that doesn’t stop him from eavesdropping as Zayn begins with “I’m sorry about this afternoon.”

“Me too.” Harry mumbles. Damn it, can’t they speak up a bit? Niall can barely hear them when they talk so quietly. Then again, it is supposed to be a private conversation.

“I know things got a bit heated in there, but I want you to know that I don’t hate you.” Zayn mutters. 

“I don’t hate you either.” Harry chuckles. “I just- I’m jealous of you.”

“Why? You’re the one who’s with him.” Zayn points out.

“But you’ll always be the one he goes to.” Harry counters. “You’ll always occupy this special place in his heart that I don’t.”

“I’m jealous of you too.” Zayn admits. “Not- Not because you’re together. I’ve gotten past that. He’s so important to me though. He’s like- Well I can’t call him my brother, because we’ve done some very un-fraternal things and I was in love with him for a long time, but it’s that kind of bond. He’s one of the most important people in my life, but he’s changed since you came along. You’ve gotten him to evolve, to remember all those pieces of himself that got chipped away over the years. You’re the one who put him back together, even though I tried for so long to do it. Some days I can barely look at him because he’s so- It’s like the sun is shining out of him when he’s with you because he’s so happy. I feel like he’s slipping away from me, and I don’t know what to do without him. I don’t even know who I am without him, so I lashed out at you.”

“He’s never going to let you fall by the wayside Zayn.” Harry says softly. “You didn’t see him during those three months, but he was trying so hard to be strong. He hated spending so much time apart from you, but he did it because there’s nothing he wouldn’t do for you. The way you’re seeing him now, that’s new for me too. No matter how happy we were together, he always missed you. It’s not until he had both of us around that the sun took up residence inside of him.”

Niall startles at the feeling of something pressing against his shoulder, but a hand slaps over his mouth before he can let out a yelp. He’s met with two abnormally serious blue eyes, and a finger over the lips of one Louis Tomlinson telling him to keep quiet. Of course Luke and Liam are piled up behind him, all three of them crouched down on the floor with Niall to listen in when Zayn says “Don’t hurt him.”

“I will never hurt him again.” Harry says firmly. “He’s everything I’ve ever wanted in my life. I’m going to do everything I can to make him happy. That’s why I flew you all out here, because I knew that even if he got mad at me for it, he’d be so happy to share all of this with you guys. You in particular. He just got you back, and I knew it would kill him to leave you behind again for another seven days already, even if he was finally getting to do something he’s always wanted to do.”

“Thank you for this by the way.” Zayn sighs. “It’s- It’s so amazing here. It’s the first real trip Liam and I have ever taken, and we have you to thank for the opportunity. I’ll find some way to-”

“Don’t say pay me back.” Harry cuts him off. “I don’t want you to. This trip is my way of thanking you for getting him to me. We only met because of you and Louis dragging him out that night. You helped shape him into the man I fell in love with. I may be jealous of you, but I also admire you for everything you’ve done for him. Your dedication to him is nothing short of awe-inspiring.”

“He saved me.” Zayn murmurs. “When I met him, I was in such a dark place. Niall was my light. My guardian angel. He guided me back out to the world and shaped me into someone real again. He helped me push away all the hate and doubt that was in my head all the time, made me see that I was worth more than my mistakes. 

“I think that’s really why it was so hard to let go of him, because I was afraid that every dark part of myself would come flooding back without him there to light the path for me. But it didn’t, because Niall- He- He made me into something different than I was before. Something more. He made me into someone who could stand on my own two feet and fight for what matters to me. I didn’t shape Niall. He shaped me. He’s always been the strong one. Even when Josh broke him, he was still stronger than anyone I know. Niall never does the easy thing. He does the right thing. That’s why I trust you with him, because he wouldn’t be with you unless it was right.”

“Fucking poetic twats.” Louis grumbles. “They need to either fight or fuck, because that’s what I’m here for.”

Liam gives him a good smack to the back of the head as Niall places a hand over his mouth, stifling anything except for the glare he shoots at each of them in turn. The two outside don’t even notice. “I’m surprised you feel like that considering how things were with the two of you.” Harry says quietly.

“I- I don’t think Niall ever really wanted to be with me like that.” Zayn admits. “I think he cared about me, and wanted to help me. I just don’t think he knew the difference between that and being in love with me. I think that he thought being with me, giving me someone to hold onto in every sense was the way to do that. And as hurt as I was by everything when it ended, it really was the way to help me. If we’d only ever been just friends, I don’t know that I would have let him in enough to help me. I might have been someone completely different, but I love who I am now because he helped me see past all the cracks in the mirror to what was hidden underneath.”

“He does that.” Harry hums. “He has this way of seeing all the good parts of a person, and reflecting it back to them. I wasn’t proud of who I was when I met him, but I am proud of myself now, because I must be something special if he loves me.”

“He does too.” Zayn muses. “It’s not like it was with me. He wants forever with you. He loves you right down to the core of himself. You can see it in everything he does and says. You’re it for him.”

“And he’s it for me.” Harry says softly. “So this- Can we be good now? I kind of hate not being on good terms with you.”

“Treat him right, and we’ll always be on good terms.” Zayn tells him. “If you don’t, then I’ll fuck you up so bad your body guards won’t be able to identify the remains.”

“I will.” Harry laughs. “And I have to ask, for my own sanity, can you keep your lips away from him? I don’t mind the cuddling and all of that, but the kissing is a bit much for me.”

“Sorry.” Zayn says sheepishly. “We’ve always been like that. All four of us. Liam and Louis can be just as bad about it too. We’re all very- Affectionate.”

“I know.” Harry chuckles. “But with your history-”

“I’ll do my best.” Zayn answers when Harry trails off. “I can’t promise I’ll be great about it, because it’s basically habit at this point after so many years of being like that with all of us, but I’ll try.”

“That’s all I can ask.” Harry says lightly. 

Niall doesn’t hear the footsteps on the deck until it’s too late to run away. He couldn’t anyways with the idiots all piled up next to him. The door slides open, and they’re all caught red handed. “Really you guys?” Zayn sighs. “What is this?”

“Um- We- I-” Niall stammers, trying to come up with any valid explanation.

Louis cuts him off though, with a loud screech of “We’re being affectionate!” and pressing Niall back into the wall with a full-fledged snog.

 

“Aright, we’re heading out now.” Zayn hums, dropping a hand on Niall’s shoulder and giving it a tight squeeze. “We’ll see you guys tonight.”

“What?” Niall squawks. “Where are you going? I had the whole day planned out!”

“We know.” Zayn nods. “But the other three and I thought we’d give you two the day to yourselves since you haven’t actually had much of that on your own holiday.”

“And I really don’t feel like going to see a mountain and a big statue of Jesus.” Louis shrugs. “This tan has to last me until summer, so I need at least one more day at the beach. Preferably two.”

“I just started to get the hang of surfing.” Liam pipes up, a wide, proud smile fitting nicely on his features.

“What Zayn said.” Luke adds. “Take pictures for me though, yeah?”

“I will.” Niall tells him. “You’ll be jealous you missed it.”

“Probably.” Luke chuckles. “You two have a good time though. You deserve it.”

“Sure you don’t want to go with them?” Niall asks Harry. “I can just do Sugarloaf and Cristo Redentor by myself if you don’t want to go.”

“One, there is no way in heaven or hell that I’m letting you walk around Rio by yourself.” Harry tells him. “And two, a day of just you and me sounds brilliant.”

“Are you sure you can handle how boring it might be?” Niall asks, chewing his bottom lip because it does sound nice, but he doesn’t want to drag Harry along to somewhere he won’t enjoy. That said, he’s going to see both of them, because he may never get another chance to come back to Rio de Janeiro and he’s not missing two of the biggest attractions.

“I think so, yeah.” Harry grins. “You’re more than enough to keep me from getting bored.”

“That’s not what you said the other day.” Niall huffs.

“I just thought it would be easier if the groups were even.” Harry shrugs. “And I like how much you seem to enjoy the tan.”

“It is really fucking hot.” Niall admits. “And the fucking tan lines from your skimpy little-”

“Leaving now!” Liam squeaks, pushing the others towards the door. “We’ll call you when we’re almost back so that we can avoid your shenanigans if there are any.”

“So courteous.” Niall chuckles. He waits until he hears the front door close, and then says “Now I have a question.”

“Yes Love?” Harry hums, bracketing his arms around where Niall is sat on the counter and working his lips over Niall’s neck.

“Who the fuck do you think you are Harry Edward Styles?” Niall growls, giving a quick tug on one of Harry’s curls. “You do not get to decide whether I fucking walk around alone or not! You’re my fiancé, not my master!”

“It’s not safe.” Harry whines, trying fruitlessly to pull his head away from Niall’s grip on his hair. “It’s a dangerous city.”

“And I’m an adult. I am fully capable of taking care of myself Harry.” Niall grits out. “You don’t tell me what I can and can’t do.”

“Fine! I’m sorry! Just let go!” Harry whimpers.

“You don’t sound very sorry.” Niall grumbles, relinquishing his grasp anyways.

“I shouldn’t have to feel bad for wanting to make sure you’re safe.” Harry huffs. “I want to protect you Niall. What is so bloody wrong about that? It would destroy me if anything happened to you.”

“Haz-” Niall sighs.

“No!” Harry cuts him off. “I’m sorry if you felt that was controlling, but Niall, I would die if you were ever hurt. You’ve never been here, you don’t speak the language, and it’s a large city with a high tourist volume, which means there are opportunists out there who would take advantage of you without a second thought. You could be robbed, or worse. I’m not saying you can’t take care of yourself. I’m saying that as long as I’m alive I will always protect you, whether you need it or not. You are everything to me. I didn’t just say that because I was upset Niall. I meant it with every fiber of my being, and I still do.”

“You are a soppy piece of shit-” Niall chuckles, grabbing Harry by the back of the neck and drawing him in for a soft kiss that he hopes conveys how touched he is. “But I love you for it. You’re my soppy piece of shit.”

 

It seemed like a good idea at the time. The cable car seemed really big, and sixty five people seemed like less. Now though, when Niall is pressed against the glass by a huge crowd, looking down hundreds of meters towards the water, he realizes that almost nothing is ever what it seems. A steady hand wraps itself around his stomach, and another braces itself against the window to the side of Niall’s head. “Relax Love. You’re shivering.” Harry murmurs. “I didn’t know you were scared of heights.”

“I’m not.” Niall mumbles. “I’m a bit claustrophobic though. I thought I’d gotten over it taking the lift up and down at home every day, but there aren’t multiple footy teams worth of people crammed in that lift when I’m in it.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Harry says softly, pressing a kiss into Niall’s neck. “It’s just us in here Love. There’s nobody else. Don’t think about that. Just take in the view, and relax.”

“Just us.” Niall echoes, fitting his fingers over Harry’s on his stomach.

“Just like when we were dancing.” Harry continues, his voice a low steady comfort in Niall’s ear, easing the flutter in his chest. “Remember that Love? It’s just like that. All that matters is you and me. Look at me right here.”

He points at the window, drawing Niall’s attention to their reflections, their faces mirrored back to him in startling clarity. Harry catches his eyes, holding his gaze and calmly asks “Nothing else matters here, does it?”

“No.” Niall agrees. “Nothing else matters here.”

“Look.” Harry says, pointing down this time. “The boys are down there somewhere. Right there on that beach. Louis is pestering Zayn, and Liam is trying to stand up on a surfboard, and Luke is wading around in the water and thinking of home.”

“Zee is probably building something in the sand.” Niall chuckles. “He did that after we broke up and then got back to being friends.” 

“Tell me about it.” Harry instructs lightly.

“Louis drove us all up to Camber Sands. It was October though, so the water was fucking freezing. We didn’t want to waste the drive though, so there we were on the beach in our trunks and these absolutely massive wool jumpers that we had to buy for a fucking markup that you would not believe. He just sat there and made sand-sculptures all day. He looked so little because the sleeves kept pushing down past his hands and he’d get all pouty whenever Louis decided to play ‘Godzilla’ and destroy whatever Zee was working on.” Niall explains, smiling fondly at the memory.

“That sounds awfully laid back for the Zayn I know.” Harry hums. “I’m surprised Louis made it out alive.”

“Zee was still scared to stand up for himself back then. He was afraid that he’d hurt someone again if he did.” Niall explains. “All Zee wants to do is help people and make the world a little better.”

“Two peas in a pod you two are.” Harry laughs. “We should probably get off now. Everyone else is gone already, and they have to send it back.”

“It’s over?” Niall asks, tearing his eyes away from the reflection of Harry to see that the cable car is indeed empty except for them and a very frustrated looking attendant. “I didn’t even notice.”

“That was kind of the point.” Harry smiles, lacing his fingers through Niall’s and pulling him towards the exit. “Now since we survived, I’m going to need you to give me another banana.”

“No.” Niall huffs. “You already had one, and I brought these for a reason.”

“Yeah, for us to eat.” Harry grumbles.

“No Haz, not for us to eat. For them.” Niall giggles, taking the lead and running over to where a pair of marmosets are perched a bit away from the crowd of people taking in the view and snapping photos. He pulls one of the bananas out of his bag and crouches down, holding it out gently and says “They’re basically tame. The tourists feed them all the time. They can have rabies though supposedly, so be careful not to startle them.”

“You’re kidding me.” Harry scoffs.

“Not at all.” Niall beams. “Look at them though. Do you think they’d be this calm if they were rabid? They’re just friendly little monkeys who- Hey!”

“Still think they’re friendly?” Harry asks with a light laugh at the marmoset that’s dancing away from Niall with the stolen banana in his hand.

 

“We said no shenanigans!” Liam yelps, slapping his hand over his eyes. “We had a plan and everything!”

“Shenanigans finished ages ago Li.” Niall giggles, draping a blanket over the very naked Harry that is currently sleeping with his head in Niall’s lap. Niall probably should have covered him up earlier once he fell asleep, but he’s so very nice to look at naked. “He’s just naked. Nothing you haven’t seen before. You got the full show yesterday.”

“I didn’t mean to.” Liam groans.

“It’s fine Li.” Niall shrugs. “I know that you didn’t mean to see it, but it doesn’t mean anything bad if you enjoyed it. We have great sex. I’m actually a little curious if it looked as good as it felt.”

“I am not answering that.” Liam grumbles, stomping up the stairs and ending the conversation.

Zayn comes in a moment later with Louis and Luke trailing behind, completely off their asses if the way they’re groping each other and giggling is any indication. “You two go to a room if you’re going to do that!” he snaps, waiting until they start stumbling up the flight of stairs attached at the lips, before he asks “Where’s Leeyum?”

“He went upstairs to avoid admitting that he liked watching Haz fuck me yesterday.” Niall smirks. “You should probably explain to him that sex isn’t dirty. He’s so squeamish. Not at all the domineering bloke I wanked to that one time.”

“Are you drunk?” Zayn asks curiously.

“Haven’t had a drop tonight.” Niall chuckles. “Just been fucked over almost everything in this room, so I’m pretty thoroughly satisfied right now. It’s kind of broken my filter.”

“Ah, I should have recognized the glow.” Zayn laughs. “Did you two even leave the house?”

“Yup.” Niall giggles. “We went everywhere I planned to today. Saw the giant Jesus. Fed some monkeys. Haz climbed some rocks. I took about a thousand pictures. Then we decided to come back and shag our brains out while we still had time. It tired Haz out.”

“I can see that.” Zayn nods. “Did you have a good time?”

“I did.” Niall beams. “Did you?”

“I have half the beach in my arse, but yeah.” Zayn smiles. “I need to take a shower now. We’ll talk later yeah?”

“Of course.” Niall grins, turning his attention back to the man sleeping in his lap.

 

“No!” Niall growls. “I am not going in that water.”

“Stop being a pussy.” Louis huffs. “Why come to the beach if you weren’t going in the water?”

“Because it’s our last full day here, and I wanted to see it before we leave.” Niall tells him. “That doesn’t mean I’m risking infection for a swim. We have a pool at the house if I feel like doing that.”

“Leave him alone Tommo.” Zayn cuts in. “Nialler is going to stay here and help me build my sculpture.”

“I am most certainly not.” Niall scoffs. “That’s almost worse than going in the water Zee. You’re getting it all over your hands. You know contamination proto-”

“Oh my god, fine. Go be a buzzkill with Harry then.” Zayn pouts. “I was trying to help.”

“And I appreciate it Zee, but I’m not sticking my hands in what basically amounts to sand held together poop.” Niall laughs, ruffling his fingers through Zayn’s fringe. “I have sanitizer in my bag for you when you’re ready to eat though.”

“Thanks Nialler.” Zayn hums, refocusing on what Niall thinks is going to be a dog. He’s not sure yet though. Zayn has barely started. What Niall can tell is that it’s going to be elaborate. He’ll probably spend the rest of the day just building and building.

“Niall!” Liam shouts somewhere behind him, and then he’s at the blond’s side, eyes wide and pleading. “Will you do up my zip for me? I can’t reach it.”

“Turn round then.” Niall chuckles. Liam follows instruction well, but he narrowly misses Zayn with the board tucked under his arm, which earns him a glare that he pointedly ignores. He’s too giddy to care, squirming around when Niall finishes doing up the back of his wetsuit and rushing off after giving him a hug.

“Niall, I heard you’re in charge of snacks.” Luke giggles, catching up with the shorter blond when he’s halfway back to where Harry is laying out. “Can I get a bottle of water?”

“Take one for Tommo and one for Zee too.” Niall tells him, pulling three chilled bottles out of his satchel and handing them over. “I only brought two for each of us, so if anyone needs more, let me know so I can run over to the stand, okay?”

“Will do.” Luke nods, heading back over to where Zayn has staked out his claim of beach and Louis is watching him work. There’s a glint in Louis’ eyes that tells Niall that soon enough he’ll be fleeing from Zayn up and down the sand. Zayn will give him a few well deserved lumps, and then he’ll rebuild.

“Took you long enough to get here.” Harry muses when Niall finally takes a seat next to him.

“I’m very popular this morning.” Niall shrugs. “What about you? Do you need anything while I’m still in a state to move?”

“Could use a kiss.” Harry grins, tilting his sunglasses back to reveal the sparkle in his eyes.

“Think I can do that.” Niall hums, stretching his legs out and pivoting so that the top half of his body is hovering over Harry’s, hands planted in the sand on either side of his head. He leans down and presses their lips together in a slow snog that releases all the tension from his shoulders. “That good enough?”

“For now.” Harry smirks, tucking Niall into his side when the blond lies on his back. “We’re heading home tomorrow. You okay with this being the last thing we do?”

“Yup.” Niall smiles. “This trip was amazing, but I’m a little excited to go back home too. Louis and Zayn are already on me about starting to plan the wedding, even though it’s two years off. And there’s the project. I have to finish phase two before I can hand it off.”

“I thought your defense went well.” Harry says curiously.

“It did.” Niall shrugs. “But I’m a little out of my league. The chief said my project was brilliant, but that it’s not something for a student. Instead I get to pick whichever project of the five that were approved that I want to be on. Think I’m going to be with Zee.”

“Obviously.” Harry chuckles. “When did you find out?”

“This morning.” Niall admits. “The chief called me at four because he doesn’t know I’m in Brazil.”

“I’m sorry you didn’t get picked Love.” Harry says sympathetically, scratching his fingers over Niall’s scalp.

“Haz, since that meeting I’ve gotten to spend Christmas with my family for the first time in years, gotten engaged, and had a perfect holiday.” Niall explains with a beaming smile. “Before all this, it would have really bothered me that I didn’t get picked, but I’ve realized that you can’t have everything. What I do have though, that’s all that matters. I have you, and those four, and there’s still so much that’s waiting to happen. I’d trade that project in a heartbeat, because everything I do have is so much better.”

“Sop.” Harry scoffs.

“You made me this way.” Niall shrugs.

“I love you Niall.” Harry says softly.

“I love you too.” Niall sighs contentedly, letting his eyes close and soaking up the experience, the cold streak of gold on his finger, the familiar sounds of echoing laughter from his friends, the comforting warmth of Harry right beside him, for what it is. Perfect.

**Author's Note:**

> If anyone is interested, this is the house I used as the basis of the story:  
> http://www.tripadvisor.com/VacationRentalReview-g303506-d6551379-Wonderful_villa_with_a_stunning_sea_view_in_Joa-Rio_de_Janeiro_State_of_Rio_de_Janeiro.html
> 
> Below are the links for pictures of the weave harness and the ladder tie that Niall used on Harry's arms (Though I changed the position from in front of him to behind his head for storyline purposes) respectively. Both pictures are SFW, but I still don't recommend opening them around other people.
> 
> http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/149/0/e/Gitter_by_18Sieben.jpg  
> http://hebari.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Maete-Hiji-Shibari.jpg
> 
> Remember people, do your research before you practice anything like this. It can be dangerous if you don't.


End file.
